Lacker: Fed Interest Rate Could Hit 2% In 2015

(RTTNews) - The Federal Reserve will not hike its benchmark interest rate from near zero until 2015, according to Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

"I put early 2015 when I think the fund rates will lift off, but that's something that could change a lot one way or the other," Lacker said on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Once rates start rising, the target federal fund rate could hit 2 percent in 2015, he added.

Lacker was on the program to shed light on the Fed's recent decision to taper its unprecedented bond-buying program by $10 billion to $75 billion per month.

Markets should expect a gradual reduction in the size of the stimulus plan in 2014. Cuts of $10 billion per month are seen as a baseline for further tapering, he tells CNBC.

However, any decision to pause tapering or scale down asset purchases by even more would depend on economic data, Lacker says.