Unlike her colleague Lael Brainard, a member of the Federal Reserve board of Governors, who said that Fed should take a cautious approach in raising rates, Mr. Dennis Lockhart, President of the Federal Reserve Atlanta voiced his support for a hike. He said, "If 1.6 percent inflation and 4.9 percent unemployment were all you knew about the economy, would you consider a policy setting one tick above the zero lower bound still appropriate?" However, he didn’t voice direct support for a hike next week but said that current economic conditions call for a serious discussion on interest rates and he added as of now there is no urgency to hike rates, "I dont feel that we are incurring costs of patience that put a lot of urgency on the question of raising rates".
With regard to the economy, he said that he remains confident as the consumer spending is strong and job growth is continuing. According to him, the U.S. economic growth could reach around 3 percent in the second half of the year.
FOMC rate decision is due on September 21st but Mr. Lockhart is not a voting member this year.
