Federal Reserve Bank of New York leader John Williams said he isn’t ready for the U.S. central bank to dial back the support it is giving the economy amid uncertainty about the recovery from the pandemic.
“It’s clear that the economy is improving at a rapid rate, and the medium-term outlook is very good,” Mr. Williams said in a virtual appearance Monday. “But the data and conditions have not progressed enough for the [Federal Open Market Committee] to shift its monetary policy stance of strong support for the economic recovery,” he said.
Earlier Monday, the leaders of the Dallas and St. Louis Fed banks said that the day for paring back the central bank’s bond-buying stimulus is growing closer.
Mr. Williams’s comments were his first public remarks since last week’s rate-setting FOMC meeting, at which officials held their short-term interest-rate target at near zero and pressed forward with monthly purchases of $80 billion in Treasurys and $40 billion in mortgage bonds.
Even as it maintained its policy stance, the central bank, heartened by a rapid economic recovery and seeing a rise in inflation, moved forward the timing of when it expects to raise rates, penciling in two increases in 2023. It also acknowledged opening the door to pulling back on its bond-buying stimulus.
