The head of the U.S. Federal Reserve has hinted at a possible hike of the key interest rate in March to curtail inflation. 

After a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee(FOMC) on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference that he believes there's "quite a bit of room" to rate hikes without hurting the labor market. 

The FOMC said in a statement that it expects it will "soon be appropriate" to raise the target range for the federal funds rate. 

Powell said that policymakers will make a decision at the next meeting set for March and the committee is prepared to raise the rate, assuming conditions are appropriate. 

He said that the U.S. economy no longer needs a sustained level of monetary policy support in light of the strong labor market and high prices.