A top Federal Reserve official says he’s “not in a rush” to start raising the central bank’s rock-bottom interest rates despite his view that the economy is improving after a weather-related winter slowdown.

Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said Tuesday night that he anticipates the first increase would not come until the second half of next year and would “begin a cycle of gradually rising rates” designed to prevent harm to the recovery.

His comments in a speech at Louisiana State University’s Graduate School of Banking came as pressure mounts on central bank policymakers to take the next step in tightening monetary policy as they wind down their monthly bond-buying stimulus program.

The Fed has kept its benchmark short-term interest rate at near zero since late 2008 to try to encourage economic growth. But the move has hurt savers and, critics have warned, risks fueling high inflation.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen and other officials have suggested they could start raising rates in the middle of next year.