Fisher: Fed can't be seen to accept high inflation

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The United States risks having inflation run at a higher rate than desired once the lagged impact of the Federal Reserve's string of interest rate cuts kicks in, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said on Wednesday.

"To me, inflation is the bigger risk," Fisher told reporters after a speech at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco, explaining why he has dissented from the Fed's three most recent decisions to lower rates.

It would be "unacceptable" for the Fed to be viewed as accepting higher levels of inflation, Fisher said.

He declined to elaborate on an earlier comment that if inflation continues to increase the Fed would increase benchmark rates sooner rather than later.

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Leslie Adler)