“The US Federal Reserve should not act with urgency when it is not necessary,” says Mary Daly.

In March, the majority of Federal Reserve officials foresaw at least three interest rate cuts before the end of the year.

On Monday, Mary Daly, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, stated that there is no urgency to cut interest rates, given the strong economy and labor market, and inflation still above the Fed’s 2% target.

“The worst thing you can do is to act urgently when urgency is not necessary,” Daly said at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Daly is one of the 19 authorities of the US central bank who set the country’s monetary policy.

The market is increasingly convinced that the Federal Reserve will keep its official interest rate in the range of 5.25% to 5.5% until mid-September, more than a year after its last hike, and then only cut rates twice before the end of the year.

However, inflation in the first three months of the year exceeded most analysts’ expectations, raising doubts about the wisdom of beginning to ease monetary policy without making further progress towards the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

Meanwhile, consumer spending has remained strong, as has the labor market, with an unemployment rate of 3.8% last month, causing little concern about whether the current monetary policy stance is too restrictive.

Daly stated on Monday that she does not want to end up with a policy response that is too strong or too weak, and she needs to be sure that inflation is heading towards 2% before wanting to ease policy.