Investing.com – Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker blamed the markets on Thursday for overestimating the length of the pause that the U.S. central bank would take before continuing to tighten monetary policy.
Lacker, a known hawk who is not a voter at the Federal Reserve (Fed) this year, further told Bloomberg that he supported a rate increase at the April meeting and that having done so in March would have been reasonable.
Of the voting members, only Kansas City Fed president Esther George dissented, saying that she would have preferred to raise the target rate range to between 0.50% and 0.75%.
Lacker added that there is the “usual diversity” of opinions at the Fed, but suggested that there was a strong case to raise at the next meeting in June.