By Michael S. Derby 

NEW YORK--Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota again argued on Thursday against any move by the U.S. central bank to raise short-term interest rates this year.

Given that inflation has been and is likely to remain for some time below the Fed's 2% price rise target, "raising the fed-funds rate in this calendar year would be inappropriate, because such an action would serve to further delay the return of inflation to target," the official said.

Mr. Kocherlakota also said the Fed can also further aid an improving labor market by refraining from boosting rates from currently near-zero rates this year. His comments came from the text of a brief opening statement he will make ahead of a town-hall gathering held by his bank in Missoula, Minn.

Mr. Kocherlakota is one of the Fed's foremost opponents of raising short-term interest rates. He spoke as the Fed has been edging closer to acting. A number of Fed officials, as well as market participants, had been looking to the Fed's mid-September meeting as a time to move rates higher. But recent turmoil in financial markets and worries about China's economic trouble and its effect on the U.S. have added uncertainty to the question of when the Fed will boost borrowing costs in the U.S. economy.

Write to Michael S. Derby at michael.derby@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 03, 2015 21:16 ET (01:16 GMT)