April 14, 2009 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said “grim” figures indicate the world’s largest economy shrank steeply last quarter.
“The economic data in the United States is quite grim, and I expect a contraction at an equally dismal rate in the first quarter,” Fisher said in a speech today in Hong Kong. He reiterated his prediction that the jobless rate may exceed 10 percent this year.
The bank president’s remarks come as U.S. policymakers continue an unprecedented campaign to increase the money supplied to the economy. Fisher, 60, is among the most hawkish members of the Federal Open Market Committee, having voted five times last year in favor of tighter policy.
The central bank’s policies are likely to help end the U.S. recession, Fisher said in the speech at a luncheon sponsored by the Asian Society of Hong Kong. Government stimulus measures should also start to have an impact on the world’s largest economy from the second quarter, he said later in an interview with Bloomberg Television.
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