Feb. 7 (UPI) — A voting member of the U.S. central bank said Monday that another interest rate hike may come at the Federal Reserve‘s next policy meeting in five weeks.
Patrick Harker, president of Philadelphia’s Federal Reserve Bank, said Monday at a conference in San Diego that a rate increase for the Fed’s scheduled March 14 meeting is “on the table.”
“I would never take a meeting off the table,” he said. “It depends on how the data evolve.”
The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously last week to leave the federal funds rate in the 0.5-0.75-point range it was moved to in mid-December. That was the only time in all of 2016 that the Fed raised rates.
Harker said Monday that he supports raising the target range three times this year, if the data support it.
“We saw some very good jobs numbers last week, continued good news around GDP and GDP growth, and continued signs that the labor market is strengthening,” he said.
The Federal Reserve said it decided to leave rates unchanged last week because economic signals — such as continuing sub-2 percent inflation — didn’t warrant another increase.
Harker took over as Philadelphia’s Federal Reserve Bank president in 2015, but this year is his first as a voting member of the FOMC.
The Fed’s next policy meeting is scheduled for March 14-15.
