Federal Reserve (Fed) officials said on Friday that healthy US economic growth looks likely to continue, but low inflation means the pickup would not usher in interest rate increases for some time.
Fed vice chairman Roger Ferguson said ample capacity created in the late 1990s building and hiring boom will keep price rises at bay, and gives the US central bank the "luxury" to monitor events as the economy recovers.
"Indeed, inflation still seems more likely to move lower than to increase," Ferguson told the Executives' Club of Chicago.
Minneapolis Fed president Gary Stern said rates could stay low so long as inflation remained tame, adding that he did not foresee a material rise in inflation next year.
Their remarks echo frank comments from policy-makers in recent days indicating that rate rises won't materialise for some time, barring an unforeseen price jump.
