Rates should go up "sooner rather than later," Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President and CEO John C. Williams said Wednesday.
"We've made remarkable progress and the economy is on the cusp of full health," Williams told a gathering in Portland, Ore., according to prepared text released by the Fed.
Among his reasons for an earlier rate hike: the lag in monetary policy; waiting too long to raise rate could cause "imbalances" as seen in the various bubbles; and by moving sooner, the pace can be more gradual.
"My preference for a more gradual process also reflects that the economy, for all its progress, still needs some accommodation," Williams said. "We don't need the extraordinarily accommodative policy that has characterized the past several years, but the headwinds we're facing—the risks from abroad, for instance, and their impact on the dollar—call for a continued push. Not with a bulldozer, but a steady nudge."
