Cleveland Fed chief 'comfortable' raising rates if economy keeps performing

[February 20, 2017] SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said on Monday she would be comfortable raising interest rates at this point if the economy kept performing the way it did.

Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President and CEO Loretta Mester gives her keynote address at the 2014 Financial Stability Conference in Washington December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

"We did have a temporary oil price shock which held down inflation, we had the dollar appreciation which held down inflation. Those have passed through and the trend in inflation is, it's moving up," Mester said at a central banking seminar in Singapore.

"So I'm comfortable that inflation is near its goal and moving toward its goal... I'd be comfortable with an increase in the (federal) funds rate at this point, if the economy keeps going the way it's going."

Fed Chair Janet Yellen said last week that the U.S. central bank will likely need to raise interest rates at an upcoming meeting, although she flagged considerable uncertainty over economic policy under the Donald Trump administration.

(Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Sam Holmes)

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