According to CNBC News, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart said on Friday he expects the U.S. central bank to raise interest rates at either its June, July or September policy meetings, barring a significant downturn in the U.S. economy.

The lower economic forecasts issued by the Fed this week reflect mostly “transient” issues that neither fundamentally change its outlook for continued U.S. growth nor are likely to push back an initial rate hike, Lockhart told reporters after a speech at a University of Georgia Law School symposium.

“I continue to believe that mid-year or a little later is appropriate timing. That would allow the June meeting to clearly be taken seriously as a meeting for the ‘lift-off’ decision. I would add to that July … And, of course, September,” Lockhart said.

“I can’t be certain it is going to happen in those three months … But I think it is realistic to assume that is the period in which we will be taking on this decision with a high likelihood of pulling the trigger,” said Lockhart, a Fed centrist.

He could prove to be an important swing voice on issues like the progress of inflation and the strength of labor markets, and has consistently said he wanted more evidence that the economic recovery would continue before committing to a rate increase.

On Wednesday, the Fed moved a step closer to hiking rates for the first time since 2006, but downgraded its economic growth and inflation projections, signaling it is in no rush to push borrowing costs to more normal levels.

Lockhart’s comments on Friday, in which he highlighted the “accumulated progress” of the U.S. economic recovery, put a firmer timeline on his view of the Fed’s rate lift-off decision.

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