Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester (and 2018 FOMC voter)

  • Says further US interest rate hikes in 2018 and 2019 'appropriate'
  • Pace of rate hikes should be similar to 2017, when Federal Reserve raised rates three times
  • Says rate hike path gives inflation time to rise, while avoiding build-up of risks
  • Sees unemployment falling below 4 pct this year, inflation rising to 2 pct in next one to two years
  • Says she expects GDP growth of 2.5 pct this year
  • US tax cuts will add 0.25 to 0.5 pctge point to GDP growth this year and next, possibly more
  • Mester says difficult to estimate long-run impact on growth from tax changes

Headlines via Reuters

---

These from text prepared for delivery to the Council for Economic Education in New York