Jeffrey Lacker — president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, Virginia — has said that there is a strong case for US interest rates to be raised this summer, arguing that recently weak economic data is “transitory”.

Mr Lacker, who has been calling for an increase for several months and is a voting member on Fed policy this year, said that “consumer spending, the labour market and other economic conditions have improved significantly over the last year.

Given what we know today, a strong case can be made that interest rates should be higher than they are now. I expect that, unless incoming economic reports diverge substantially from projections, the case for raising rates is strong.”

Meanwhile, small businesses in the USA took out fewer loans in February, according to data released at the end of last month.

The Thomson/Pay Net Small Business Lending Index fell to 119.2 in February from 122.4 in January (a figure above 100 indicates growth). However, it was up seven points compared with February last year, indicating a steadily improving sector.

PayNet founder and president Bill Phelan said: “The Index shows that firms are investing more to increase their output of goods and services. That could include buying new machinery, purchasing more property or expanding business divisions.

"It tells us that these businesses are investing because they are getting more orders and more purchases from their custom-ers.”