The vast majority of business economists expect the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates before the end of the year, according to a survey released Monday.
Minutes from the Fed’s meeting in late July showed that officials could raise rates as early as September. Seventy-seven percent of survey respondents believe the Fed will raise rates from their current near-zero levels, but only 37 percent of respondents believe it will happen as soon as next month.
The survey was done by the National Association of Business Economics. When it surveyed its members in March, 71 percent of economists believed the Fed would raise rates in 2015.
“A large and growing majority of business economists expects the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to raise its target for the federal funds rate before the end of 2015,” NABE President John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo, said in a statement.
With only two more appropriate Fed meetings left in 2015, most NABE economists believe the Fed will raise rates at their December meeting. The Fed’s next scheduled meeting is September 16 and 17, which will be followed by a news conference by Fed Chair Janet Yellen. Fed policymakers have said they greatly prefer raising rates at a meeting where a news conference is scheduled. The next one would be December 15 and 16.
