Vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Richard Clarida told Fox Business on Monday that the United States central bank will make its decisions on potentially raising interest rates on a "meeting by meeting" basis in 2019.
"We can afford to be patient in 2019, there is good momentum," Clarida noted. The central banker added that "a lot has happened" since the Fed last hiked rates at its December meeting, noting "some of the global growth data have been softening." Clarida added that the Fed will take global developments into account when deciding on interest rates, but pointed out that he does not see a recession "on the horizon" despite a slowdown in global economic growth.
In December, the Fed noted it expects two rate hikes in 2019, but later several Fed officials stressed the number of hikes could be lower in case inflation does not rise.