James Ballard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said Friday that a substantial recovery in the US economy and rising inflation means the Fed is about to drop its emergency stimulus.

He also added: US GDP already exceeds the maximum before the pandemic and, as one should expect, continued steady growth, against the background of the fact that many indicators speak of a rather tough situation on the labor market with a significant acceleration in consumer price growth for 2021.

At a meeting in early November, the Fed decided to cut $ 120 billion in asset buybacks per month by $ 15 billion and continue to cut the program in the same way in December.

James Ballard also said that the situation with the mutation of the coronavirus into a new strain does not yet give rise to assessments of the impact on public health or on the American economy.