MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fed minutes: tapering round the corner but inflation remains controversial

Tapering means limiting the US$ 120bn monthly purchase of Treasury bonds and mortgage backed securities, a program which has been ongoing since June 2020.

The United States Federal Reserve is expected to begin cutting on emergency support for the US economy in mid-December at the latest, if not even in mid-November, according to the minutes from September's meeting released this week.

The tapering means limiting the 120 billion dollars monthly purchase of Treasury bonds and mortgage backed securities, a program which has been ongoing since June 2020.

The minutes indicate that Fed members intend to reduce asset purchases by US$ 15 billion a month, US$ 10bn of Treasury bonds and US$ 5bn of mortgage backed securities. However several FOMC members preferred quicker pace

“Participants generally assessed that, provided that the economic recovery remained broadly on track, a gradual tapering process that concluded around the middle of next year would likely be appropriate,” the minutes said. Economists expect the Fed to announce a plan to taper at the end of its Nov. 2-3 meeting.

Another controversial issue was inflation, highly controversial, but overall the Fed kept to its forecast that US inflation's rise this year would be “transitory”

While there were upside risks, the staff forecast the Fed’s favorite measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditure price index, would fall below 2% in 2022 due to a sharp drop in import prices and a partial reversal of supply chain issues