Fed’s Bostic Plays Down Risk From New Variant, Is Open to Faster Taper

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic played down the risk of a new Covid-19 variant to the U.S. economy and said he was open to scaling back asset purchases at a faster pace to keep inflation in check.

“I am very open to accelerating the pace of our slowdown in purchases,” Bostic, a voter this year on the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, told Fox News in an interview Friday. “For me, early second quarter, late first quarter of 2022 are all in play as reasonable alternatives for when we might stop our purchases if the economy’s momentum continues as it has over the last several months.”