10 Mar 2015
Comfortable with lift-off in the first half of this year – Fed’s Mester
FXStreet (Mumbai) - The chief of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) fourth district Loretta Mester joined in on the mid-year lift-off wagon on Monday, while presenting a set of suggestions for improving the central bank's policy communication.
Key Quotes:
"The economy is now on firmer footing and our monetary policy stance should reflect that,"
"(I)would be comfortable with lift-off in the first half of this year."
Mester added she is "reasonably confident" that inflation will return to the 2% target by the end of next year.
"We have been climbing out of a very deep recession and have experienced a negative oil-price shock,"
"So long as inflation expectations remain anchored and growth continues to be at or above trend, I am comfortable with it taking some time for inflation to return to our 2% goal."
Key Quotes:
"The economy is now on firmer footing and our monetary policy stance should reflect that,"
"(I)would be comfortable with lift-off in the first half of this year."
Mester added she is "reasonably confident" that inflation will return to the 2% target by the end of next year.
"We have been climbing out of a very deep recession and have experienced a negative oil-price shock,"
"So long as inflation expectations remain anchored and growth continues to be at or above trend, I am comfortable with it taking some time for inflation to return to our 2% goal."