San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams said Tuesday there’s a “very strong case” for the Fed to raise interest rates next month if the economy continues to improve and policymakers are confident that inflation will pick up.
“Assuming the data are consistent with those (conditions), I think there’s a very strong case for starting the process of raising interest rates” at the Fed’s Dec. 15-16 meeting, Williams said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY. “The next natural step…is to start raising rates and to do that gradually.”
The Fed hasn’t hoisted its benchmark rate in nearly 10 years, and it’s been near zero since the 2008 financial crisis.
