In a speech that expressed optimism about the economic outlook, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said Monday that he is sticking for now with his long-held view that the U.S. central bank should hold off on raising rates until the middle of next year or later.
“The momentum I perceive in the economy gives me confidence that the Federal Open Market Committee can consider beginning to normalize interest rates in 2015,” Mr. Lockhart said in the text of a speech prepared for delivery before a local group in Atlanta. What the Fed does with short-term rates will be driven by how the economy performs, but he added “my publicly-stated projection of liftoff is mid-year or later.”
Mr. Lockhart, who doesn’t currently hold a voting role on the interest-rate setting FOMC, has been arguing for some time in favor of taking a patient view on boosting rates off of their current near zero levels in order to ensure that the growth that’s been seen recently endures. He will have a vote on the FOMC next year.
Broad-based improvements in hiring and steady economic growth have heated up the debate over the timing of interest rate increases, although most key officials have argued in favor of holding off on rate increases until at least the middle of next year.
Mr. Lockhart is widely looked to as a centrist on the FOMC and a bellwether of policy makers’ consensus outlook. His comments Monday reaffirm higher borrowing costs still lie some distance in the future, even as some regional Fed officials agitate for an earlier course of rate rises.
In a speech that expressed optimism about the economic outlook, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said Monday that he is sticking for now with his long-held view that the U.S. central bank should hold off on raising rates until the middle of next year or later.
“The momentum I perceive in the economy gives me confidence that the Federal Open Market Committee can consider beginning to normalize interest rates in 2015,” Mr. Lockhart said in the text of a speech prepared for delivery before a local group in Atlanta. What the Fed does with short-term rates will be driven by how the economy performs, but he added “my publicly-stated projection of liftoff is mid-year or later.”
Mr. Lockhart, who doesn’t currently hold a voting role on the interest-rate setting FOMC, has been arguing for some time in favor of taking a patient view on boosting rates off of their current near zero levels in order to ensure that the growth that’s been seen recently endures. He will have a vote on the FOMC next year.
Broad-based improvements in hiring and steady economic growth have heated up the debate over the timing of interest rate increases, although most key officials have argued in favor of holding off on rate increases until at least the middle of next year.
Mr. Lockhart is widely looked to as a centrist on the FOMC and a bellwether of policy makers’ consensus outlook. His comments Monday reaffirm higher borrowing costs still lie some distance in the future, even as some regional Fed officials agitate for an earlier course of rate rises.