January 14, 2015
An ardent critic of the Federal Reserve's aggressive stimulus said on Wednesday his last act as a U.S. policymaker was to oppose attaching a timeline to an eventual interest-rate rise.
Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser dissented last month against the U.S. central bank's decision to say it would be "patient" as it contemplates when to hike rates, a term that Fed Chair Janet Yellen roughly defined as at least three months.
Plosser, an ardent policy hawk who steps down on March 1, repeated that the U.S. economy had returned to a more normal footing and so monetary policy should, too.
In a now-familiar speech to business leaders, Plosser said he dissented in December because the Fed "continues to stress the passage of time as a key determinant of policy, rather than making clear that policy will depend on the data.
"Describing policy in terms of time could also risk limiting the (Fed's) flexibility to respond to the data if we continue to see an improving economy," he told the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
The central bank is expected to raise its key policy rate from near zero around mid-2015 in a nod to improved economic and employment growth. The rate has not changed for six years.
Plosser, who has been in the Fed's hawkish minority for much of his 8-1/2 years at the helm in Philadelphia, repeated his expectation for about 3 percent U.S. economic growth this year, and about 2.4 percent over the long run.
