Fed Vice Chair Sees Interest Rate Liftoff as Early as 2023

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard H. Clarida presents his insights on the economic outlook and monetary policy at the Peterson Institute in Washington, on Oct. 25, 2018. Jeremey Tripp/Peterson Institute

A key Federal Reserve official said Wednesday that the economic conditions for raising interest rates could be met by the end of 2022, paving the way for a liftoff of the Fed’s benchmark rate from its current level of near zero.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida, the Fed’s second-in-command, said in a webcast discussion hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics that the central bank estimates that the U.S. economy will grow faster than the projected long-run trend growth through 2023, with robust growth in gross domestic product (GDP) driving down the unemployment rate to 3.8 percent by the end of 2022.