June 30 (Reuters) – One of the governors of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed), Christopher Waller, on Tuesday said he was “very optimistic” about the economy but declined to comment on when the central bank was due. according to him to start raising interest rates, but does not rule out that this will happen next year.
“The unemployment rate would have to drop quite sharply, or inflation would have to continue to settle at a very high rate, before we can seriously consider a rate hike in 2022, but I’m not ruling that out.” he told Bloomberg TV in what was his first public comment since the Fed’s monetary policy meeting earlier this month.
The central bank announced on June 16 that it now expects a first hike in interest rates from 2023 and that it has started the debate on the coming reduction of its bond purchases in the markets.
While the most critical phase of the crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic has now passed, “we now find ourselves in a different phase of economic policy, and it is therefore appropriate to start thinking about alleviating some of the stimuli,” he said. Christopher Waller, saying he is “fully in favor” of reducing bond purchases. (Report Ann Saphir; French version Jean Terzian)
–
