Bloomberg Business Week (01/27/12) Joshua Zumbrun

U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond president Jeffrey Lacker says interest rates may need to rise before late 2014 to prevent an increase in inflation, dissenting from the central bank’s Jan. 25 decision to pledge keeping its benchmark interest rate near zero “at least through late 2014.” Lacker says economic conditions are not likely “to warrant an exceptionally low federal funds rate for so long. I expect that as economic expansion continues, even if only at a moderate pace, the federal funds rate will need to rise in order to prevent the emergence of inflationary pressures,” he adds.