EX-FED EXEC URGES MORE US STIMULI TO CUT RECESSION THREAT

US officials may need to ramp up fiscal stimulus to avoid a "double-dip" recession, former Atlanta Fed president Dennis Lockhart told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Friday (Saturday, August 29, 2020 in Manila), Theron Mohamed reported for Business Insider.

If authorities fail to control the virus and it results in further economic pain, a second downturn could be on the cards, Lockhart said. The Federal Reserve has already cut interest rates to almost zero and indicated they will remain low for a while, and can't make "dramatic increases" to its asset purchases, he continued.

"If there's going to be an effective effort to really ward off a worst-case scenario, particularly for portions of the American public that are most vulnerable, then it's going to come from the fiscal side," Lockhart added.

The US economy needs more fiscal stimulus to cut the risk of a "double-dip" recession, Lockhart warned. "If things go badly with the management of the virus and there's more cascading ... then yes, it's possible we have a double dip," the former central banker said. "I don't think that's probably the base case, but I think it's still possible."