The US Federal Reserve has released the minutes from its latest meeting, which has expressed some unease about rising inflation.
Some Federal Reserve officials believe they will have to hold to an easy monetary policy course beyond this year, while others say the central bank should move to tighter conditions before year-end.
In a similar example of divergent views, some members of the Fed's policy-making Federal Open Market Committee thought the central bank should cut short its $US600 billion bond buying program if growth proved more robust or inflation higher.
The minutes showed officials increasingly concerned about inflation and the possibility an inflationary psychology might take root.
However, they concluded for the most part that higher inflation due to energy and commodity price spikes would be
temporary, although they vowed to keep a watchful eye on whether consumers and businesses were beginning to expect higher inflation in the future.
