Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said today there was ample liquidity in the U.S. financial system and no need for the U.S. central bank to continue its extremely easy monetary policy.
Interviewed on CNBC television, Fisher said U.S. businesses' balance sheets were in good shape and companies were awaiting clearer signs about how the economy will develop before they kick up the pace of hiring. "This is going to be a very slow process, and right now we need to get the fiscal side" lined up, Fisher said.
Fisher, a voting member of the Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, already is on record saying the central bank should not continue a bond-buying program. Its $600 billion second round of quantitative easing, known as QE2, ends this month. "What would more liquidity do? It's not being used. It's sitting on the sidelines. The gas tanks are full," he said. Fisher said he expects economic growth to accelerate in the second half of this year to an annual rate of about 3 percent to 4 percent and said businesses were poised to hire.