By Alister Bull

MIAMI (Reuters) - The battered U.S. economy will continue to weaken over the coming months, with unemployment rising, top Federal Reserve officials said on Wednesday, though they remain confident that forceful policy action will help end the more than year-long recession.

Dennis Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, said it was hard to "be upbeat about the immediate future."

Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Fed, said indicators show the economy to be on track for a decline in the first quarter roughly equal to the 6.2 percent annual rate of contraction seen in the 2008 fourth quarter.

Fisher, who characterized himself as the most pessimistic of all of his colleagues on the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), said he fears the country might suffer two years of recession.

The current recession started in December 2007.

Lockhart, however, said he still expects the economy to begin a modest recovery in the second half of the year.

That said, Lockhart painted a gloomy picture near-term.

"Looking broadly at the national economy, the recent numbers have been discouraging," Lockhart told the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.