SINGAPORE: Three interest rate hikes this year by the US Federal Reserve makes sense given the strong labour market in the US, and an economy that is doing well, said John Williams, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

"The US economy is about as close to the Fed's dual mandate goals as we've ever been," Mr Williams said in Singapore on Monday.

Mr Williams said that with US unemployment at 4.4 per cent and inflation on track to reach the Fed's 2 per cent goal next year, the data indicates that the US economy has fully recovered from the recession.