Williams sees more aggressive Fed rate hikes next year

[May 23, 2016]  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve will likely tighten policy a bit quicker in 2017 than this year, by perhaps one or two more interest rate hikes, a top Fed official said on Monday, noting the decision whether to hike in mid-June will hinge on economic data before then.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams said Fed forecasts from March still largely stood up: "Over the rest of the year two or maybe three rate increases, maybe one or two more (than that) next year so maybe three or four next year - I think that's still about right," he said at the Council of Foreign Relations.

"It will depend on the data," he added. "We still get another month's data before the June (14-15 policy) meeting and we want to analyze that and come to our conclusion."

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)

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