WASHINGTON, Nov 16, 2007 (AFP) - Federal Reserve governor Randall Kroszner said Friday that disappointing US economic reports expected in the coming months would not justify a new interest rate cut.

"A sequence of data releases consistent with the rough patch for economic activity that I expect in coming months would not, by themselves, suggest to me that the current stance of monetary policy is inappropriate," Kroszner said in a speech prepared for an Institute of International Finance conference in New York.

The Fed released the text of his speech in Washington.

Kroszner, who said he was speaking on his own behalf and not the central bank's, noted a run-up in oil prices and a weakening of the dollar since the Fed slashed its base federal funds rate by a half-point to 4.75 percent on September 18, its first rate cut in four years.

That rate cut, and a subsequent quarter-point reduction to 4.50 percent on October 31, were taken to ease a credit crunch related to the US housing slump.

"With those actions, however, the downside risks to economic growth now appear to be roughly balanced by the upside risks to inflation," Kroszner said.

"The prices of oil and other commodities continue, of course, to be a source of major uncertainty for the overall inflation outlook," he added.