US Federal Reserve independence is ‘exceptionally important’

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond former president Jeffrey Lacker says the US Federal Reserve being independent from government is “exceptionally important”.

Mr Lacker said history has “proven that case”.

“The times in which the Fed’s gone off the rails in the last century or two have been times in which the administration, the White House, has leaned on the Fed heavily in order to keep interest rates low for various purposes.”