The United States could see two further interest rate rises this year but uncertainties abound including the impact on the U.S. economy should Britain vote to leave the European Union, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said on Tuesday.
“Two rate hikes are certainly possible. We have enough (Fed policy) meetings remaining but it depends entirely on how the economy evolves,” Lockhart told reporters in Amelia Island, Florida.
On that front, Lockhart said that incoming data between now and the Fed’s next meeting on June 14-15 “is not comprehensive by any stretch of the imagination” and that the upcoming Brexit vote in Britain raised risks.
“It is the repercussions for the U.S. economy that would concern me…it’s really a question of indications in financial markets of a reaction to rising uncertainty and the degree of volatility we are seeing again in financial markets,” he said.
The U.S. central bank kept interest rates unchanged last week and showed little sign of urgency in raising rates again.
