CHICAGO (Reuters) - Low inflation and high unemployment in the United States justify the Federal Reserve keeping benchmark interest rates ultra-low for "quite some time", Chicago Fed President said on Tuesday.
"We have a little bit more risk with the European situation; the (U.S.) outlook looks good but not so strong as to reduce the unemployment rate very quickly; I don't see inflationary pressures at the moment," Evans told business leaders in Chicago in response to an audience question.
"So I think we will continue to have an accommodative policy stance for quite some time," he said.
Evans, who is not a voter on the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, reiterated that the Fed's pledge to keep rates low for "an extended period" means about six months to him.
