Fed officials say economy is ready for higher rates

Robust economic growth has increased the confidence of Federal Reserve officials that the economy is ready for higher interest rates, according to an official account of the Fed’s most recent policymaking meeting in January.

The Fed cited the strength of recent economic data, accommodative financial conditions and the impact of a major tax cut that took effect in January, which it said might deliver a larger-than-expected increase in near-term economic growth.

Most Fed officials predicted in December that the Fed would raise its benchmark rate at least three times in 2018. The account does not signal a change in those plans but suggests that Fed officials have gained confidence in that trajectory.

“A stronger outlook for economic growth raised the likelihood that further gradual policy firming would be appropriate,” according to the account of the Fed’s meeting Jan. 30-31, which was released Wednesday after a standard three-week delay.

The Fed is seeking to raise rates gradually to maintain control of inflation without impeding an economic expansion that is nearing the end of its ninth year, one of the nation’s longest stretches of uninterrupted economic growth.