Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester told CNBC on Friday that the central bank plans to raise interest rates up to two times in 2019, but it could give up on any rate hikes in case the inflation does not increase.
Mester stressed one or two rate hikes would be appropriate this year given the current state of the United States economy. She noted the Fed will take the stock market performance and business outlook into account when deciding on monetary policy.
According to Mester, the US economy is expected to slow compared to 2018 but a recession is not likely to come in the near future.
