Comfortable With Lift-Off In The First Half Of This Year - Fed's Mester

FXStreet (Mumbai) - The Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said at a banking conference on Wednesday, that even though the Federal Reserve (Fed) will still be short of its goals, the economy has enough momentum for policymakers to raise rates in the first half of the year.

She noted, "soon be appropriate to begin moving rates up from zero" because the economy is moving back to a more normal territory.

"Indeed, if incoming economic information supports my forecast, I would be comfortable with lift-off in the first half of this year, but as the FOMC has emphasized, policy isn't on a pre-set path," "very accommodative for some time" allowing the economy to catch up.