Don´t wait, raise rates again in 2016, Fed´s Williams says

America´s central bank should go ahead and raise rates again in 2016 a top official said.

In an interview with The Washington Post, San Francisco Fed chief John Williams said that would be in keeping with the monetary authority´s stated strategy of “taking our foot very gradually off the gas”.

“We’re not getting anywhere close to the brakes here. But we need to continue to execute on the basic strategy that we’ve laid out over the past couple of years, and that’s a gradual path of removing accommodation, taking our foot very gradually off the gas,” Williams said.

Williams was not a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee in 2016, but some observers saw him as a close 'ally' of Fed chief Janet Yellen.

He also took issue with the view espoused by his peer at the Chicago Fed, Charles Evans, that the Fed should wait to raise rates until inflation had reached its 2.0% target.

“I think that would put us significantly behind the curve,” Williams said.

“I think that an abrupt shift in policy could be disruptive.”