FX.co ★ Fed could raise rates twice in 2017

Former Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said that the Fed could raise rates twice more this year as the economy is “reasonably close” to full employment and the GDP growth is likely to accelerate.

“It’s appropriate to begin to remove a little bit of the ultra-accommodation,” Lockhart said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong.

On March 15, the Fed raised its federal funds rate by 0.25 bps to a range of 0.75% to 1% and said it planned an interest rate hike twice more in 2017 and three times in 2018. The forecast matched the previous outlook released in December.

Lockhart retired at the end of February. Meanwhile, he said that the regulator keeps up with the trend and that he would have supported the rate increase earlier this month.

However, there are signs that the US economic growth may be low at about 1% in the first quarter. The situation that took place in recent years could repeat with growth accelerating in the second, third or the fourth quarters of 2017.