Fed's Williams sees 'huge impact' on US from China and Brazil

President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco John Williams in a March 27, 2015 file photo. PHOTO: REUTERS

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) - Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco president John Williams said the global economy, and China and Brazil in particular, had a significant impact on measures that US policymakers watch to determine interest rates.

The world's largest economy is doing "quite well", Mr Williams said on Monday (March 28) in an interview on CNBC, citing stable inflation and strong employment growth.

The US economy grew at a faster pace than expected in the fourth quarter, with a 1.4 per cent increase. That compared with a prior Commerce Department estimate of 1 per cent, figures issued Friday show.

"The real issue is the global financial and economic developments. There's uncertainty about what's happening around the world and how that feeds back to the dollar and the US economy," Mr Williams, who doesn't vote on monetary policy this year, told CNBC.

"We understand that we're in a global economy so what happens in Brazil or China has a huge impact on the US in terms of our inflation and employment goals."

Asked about the message intended from the Fed, Mr Williams responded: "I would say there's broad agreement on the committee that our basic strategy, which is to gradually remove policy accommodation and raise interest rates over the next couple of years, has strong support. The real question is when we should raise rates, what pace we should raise rates. That's going to be driven by the data so we'll have to wait and see."

Mr Williams is scheduled to deliver a speech on US monetary policy and the global economic outlook at 5.15pm on Tuesday in Singapore.

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