WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve has met its goal of “substantial further progress” on both employment gains and inflation and should begin to reduce its massive monthly bond buys this year, Cleveland Fed Bank President Loretta Mester said on Friday.
“I am comfortable that we are basically there,” Mester said in an interview with broadcaster CNBC.
Mester added that she would support the central bank announcing a plan in September “and then we start tapering some time this year.”
“I would like to see those asset purchases taper down so that they’re completed by the middle of next year,” she said.
(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
