WILMINGTON, North Carolina — The US central bank's fight to return inflation to its 2-percent target may take longer than expected to complete and limit how far interest rates can be cut, Richmond Federal Reserve (Fed) President Thomas Barkin said on Wednesday.

In an interview with Reuters, Barkin said he supported the half-percentage-point rate cut the Fed approved last month and agreed the benchmark rate could fall perhaps by another half a percentage point by the end of this year to take account of how far inflation has declined.