A top Federal Reserve official said Monday he opposes more stimulus by the central bank because it will do little to boost economic growth and will likely sow the seeds of higher inflation in the future.

"Monetary policy doesn't have a lot of capability right now to really enhancing the growth we are seeing in the economy," said Jeffrey Lacker, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.

"I think the impediments of growth are things that monetary policy is really not that capable of offsetting," such as the so-called "fiscal cliff" Washington faces with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts at the end of this year combined with deep new spending cuts scheduled to kick in at the same time, he said.

"We've got a significant fiscal adjustment ahead of us, and that's having a demonstrable effect on growth," Lacker said "We hear from contacts around our district that they just -- they look ahead; they think about the new projects.