Top Federal Reserve Official Advocates For Lowering Interest Rates ‘Carefully’

Central bank could slow the pace of tapering the $8 trillion balance sheet, Christopher Waller says.

Christopher Waller testifies before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee during a hearing on his nomination to be member-designate on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, in Washington, on Feb. 13, 2020. Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

A top Federal Reserve official thinks the U.S. central bank should “methodically and carefully” lower interest rates when the time is right to loosen monetary policy conditions.

In a prepared virtual speech at the Brookings Institution on Jan. 16, the Fed governor Christopher Waller asserted that the benchmark Fed funds rate will likely come down this year “as long as inflation doesn’t rebound and stay elevated.”