Federal Reserve Says to Double Taper of US Stimulus From January

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it will double the pace of the tapering of the US pandemic-era stimulus to $30 billion a month from January.

The Fed announced in November that it will cut $15 billion a month from its monthly scheduled buying of $120 billion of bonds and assets.

"We are ready to adjust the pace of purchases if the economy's outlook changes," the central bank said in a statement after announcing the new taper rate at the monthly meeting of its policy-setting FOMC or Federal Open Market Committee.

The FOMC left benchmark US interest rates unchanged in the range of 0% to 0.25%, a level it has maintained since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.

The faster pace of tapering points to the end of the stimulus program by March, paving the way for the first rate hike by as early as April.

A separate Fed projection released on Wednesday showed that the benchmark interest rate could rise to as high as 0.9% next year, suggesting that as many as three rate hikes may take place in 2022.