WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve will likely wait "at least" six months after ending a bond-buying program before raising interest rates, and will only act that quickly "if things really go well," a top U.S. central banker said on Wednesday.
Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed, was asked about the timetable after Janet Yellen, the Fed Chair, said last month the recess would be "around six months" depending on the economy - a comment that undercut stocks and bonds and prompted economists to revise forecasts.
"It could be six, it could be 16 months," Evans told reporters.
"If I had my druthers, I'd want more accommodation and I'd push it into 2016," he said of what he sees as the appropriate timing of the first rate hike. But, he said, "the actual, most likely case I think is probably late 2015."
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by James Dalgleish)
