☰

M. Continuo

Fed's Bullard says zero rates no longer appropriate for U.S.


    LONDON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve policymaker James Bullard said on Tuesday that zero percent interest rates were no longing appropriate in the United States and that a rate hike in the "summer" would still leave policy extremely accommodative.

    "Zero is no longer the appropriate interest rate for the U.S. economy," Bullard said during a panel session at London City Week.

    Monetary policy would still be "extremely accommodative" even if the central bank began with a small increase in rates "sometime in the summer," he added and predicted that the U.S. economy would grow at over 3 percent this year.

    (Reporting by Marc Jones and Huw Jones)