Chicago Fed President Charles Evans told CNBC on Monday that he believes it would be “quite some time” before it’s appropriate to start increasing interest rates from their near-zero levels.
Talking 2015
Evans sees June 2015 as a possibility for the first rate increase, but said on Squawk Box if it were his decision, he’d wait even longer. “If you look at the risks, we ought to balance those and be concerned that sometimes coming out of zero … is really a difficult proposition for the economies. And so I’d like to be patient.”
Evans is one of the Fed’s dovish regional chiefs. While not a voting member on the central bank’s policymaking committee this year, he’s a 2014 alternate and will be voting next year.
While saying he’s confident the U.S. economy is getting stronger and will continue to do so, Evans wants to make sure it is strong enough before moving rates higher. He also wants to see inflation get to the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target—saying he’d be willing to “overshoot” modestly on inflation to help boost jobs.
Evans said he doesn’t see evidence of financial market bubbles.
via CNBC