Fed should consider hiking rates in March: Fed's George

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve should consider raising interest rates at its next policy meeting in March, Kansas City Fed President Esther George said on Tuesday.

"It absolutely should be on the table for consideration," George told Bloomberg Radio.

George, who is a voting member this year on the Fed's rate-setting committee, said she will wait until the March 15-16 meeting before deciding whether to support raising rates.

Signs of a slowdown in the global economy and whipsawing financial markets have led investors to bet against rate hikes anytime soon. Prices for U.S. fed funds futures suggest investors see little chance of any increases this year.

George said volatility in financial markets, if sustained, could give policymakers pause. But she said the U.S. economic outlook has not changed fundamentally since December when the Fed signaled it could hike rates four times this year.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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