Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said in a speech on Wednesday that further interest rates will be gradual and depend on the incoming economic data.

"The future path of the federal funds rate will depend on incoming economic data… Further increases in rates are in my view likely to be gradual," he said.

Rosengren noted that there are downside risks to further interest rate hikes.

"While the median forecast provides a reasonable estimate of the likely path of the federal funds rate, my own view is that such a forecast does have downside risks. These downside risks reflect continued headwinds from weakness within countries that represent many of our major trading partners," Boston Fed president said.

"Further tightening will require data continuing to be strong enough that growth will be at or above potential, so that Federal Reserve policymakers can be confident that inflation will reach our 2 percent target," he added.

Rosengren is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this year.