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Empresas y finanzas

Low inflation won't stop Fed from raising rates: Williams


    SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. inflation will likely stay "well below" the Federal Reserve's 2-percent target next year, but that won't stop the Fed from pressing ahead with plans to raise interest rates, a top U.S. central banker said on Friday.

    "Thinking about policy liftoff sometime next year, it will be driven by what's the progress we've made on our employment mandate, and also where do I see inflation going over the next few years," San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams, who will rotate next year into a voting spot on the Fed's policy-setting committee, told Bloomberg Radio.

    "You have to look through the short-term fluctuations of things, look to the next year or two ahead and think about where is the economy going to be," he said. "Monetary policy as we know takes a year or two to have its full effects."

    The Fed on Wednesday said it would be "patient" in raising rates next year, a term that Fed chair Janet Yellen said suggests rates will stay at their near-zero level for at least the next two policy-setting meetings.

    Williams is typically seen as a centrist whose views are in line with those of Yellen.

    (Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by James Dalgleish)