SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (Reuters) - U.S. economic growth will be "subpar" in the second half of the year and interest rates must be set at levels that reflect the "substantial headwinds" facing the economy, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen said on Thursday."The slightly negative real (benchmark federal) funds rate does not imply a highly accommodative policy stance," Yellen told a lunch sponsored by the San Francisco Fed's Salt Lake City branch.
Yellen is not a voting member of the U.S. central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee in 2008.
"My forecast is for sluggish growth in the second half of this year, with substantial downside risks -- especially emanating from the financial system," she added in her remarks, the text of which was made available in advance.
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