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Bullard, who voted to support the March policy decision, noted
in a speech that the labor market had improved since December.
"As it turns out, the decision to pause seems to have put more
weight on the global and U.S. growth downgrade," he said in
prepared remarks.
After having raised rates from near zero in December, the Fed
last week cited a slowdown overseas and early-year market
turmoil as reasons to hold steady on rates. Forecasts by the 17
policymakers suggested two rate rises were expected in 2016, and
they lowered predictions for expected economic growth.
"The relatively minor downgrades... suggest that the next rate
increase may not be far off provided that the economy evolves as
expected," said Bullard.
In recent weeks, Bullard has taken on more hawkish tones after
having last month warned that falling inflation expectations
suggested the Fed needed to pause policy tightening. Those
market-based inflation measures have rebounded in recent weeks.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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