It is time for the Federal Reserve to raise U.S. interest rates gradually given progress on employment and inflation, said Kansas City Fed President Esther George, the only U.S. central banker to dissent against the Fed’s decision last month to stand pat on policy.
“I do think it is time to move that rate. That doesn’t mean I favor high rates. It doesn’t mean I think that needs to happen rapidly. I agree (with) a gradual move in these rates,” she said in a television interview from Jackson Hole, Wyo., where some of the world’s top central bankers are meeting this week.
“But under conditions where we’re seeing employment move in the direction that it is, where we are seeing low and stable inflation – I think it’s fair to say we can remove some of that accommodation,” George added on CNBC.