Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stepped up calls to preserve the Fed’s independence today, saying central banks best deliver steady economic growth and low inflation when free from political meddling, Reuters reported.

Bernanke’s comments address the U.S. central bank’s overarching worry about the sweeping overhaul of financial rules making steady progress through Congress: a provision subjecting the Fed’s monetary policy decisions to congressional audits.

“Political interference in monetary policy can generate undesirable boom-bust cycles that ultimately lead to both a less stable economy and higher inflation,” Bernanke said in remarks prepared for delivery to a conference at the Bank of Japan.

The audit provision, authored by long-time Fed abolition advocate Rep. Ron Paul, gained surprise inclusion in proposed House of Representatives legislation late last year.

Bernanke said central banks subject to political influence might face pressures to delay raising borrowing costs when inflation begins to surface to achieve short-term gains in employment and growth.

In addition, a government that controls a central bank may be tempted to push the institution to print money to finance a budget deficit, Bernanke said.

Central bank independence is important not just in connection with setting interest rates to spur or slow economic growth, he said, but also in deploying a recent addition to the policy-making tool kit — flooding the financial system with money to stimulate growth, referred to as “quantitative easing.”