The Federal Reserve's dramatic dumping of money into the economy poses inflation risks down the road, and the central bank may need to raise interest rates before credit markets have completely recovered, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said on Friday.
"While at the present time, credit programs do not conflict with our monetary policy strategy, there could well be a time at which monetary stimulus needs to be withdrawn to prevent a resurgence in inflation, even though credit markets are not deemed fully healed," he told the Maryland Bankers Association.
Lacker, one of the toughest anti-inflation hawks among senior Fed officials, cautioned that the US central bank is mixing monetary policy with credit policy as it offers loans to stabilise financial markets in deep disarray after the housing crash and the surge in mortgage defaults. The expansion of the Fed's balance sheet may be risky, he said.
"Credit policy is also aimed at promoting growth, but it is more a form of fiscal policy in that it uses the public sector's balance sheet to alter the allocation of resources," Lacker said.