Mohamed A. El-Erian , Columnist

Fed Needs to Go Beyond Doubling Its Taper Rate

At its policy meeting this week, the central bank can start to regain control of the narrative on inflation and monetary policy.

December 12, 2021 at 10:00 PM UTC

By Mohamed A. El-Erian

Mohamed A. El-Erian is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A former chief executive officer of Pimco, he is president of Queens’ College, Cambridge; chief economic adviser at Allianz SE; and chair of Gramercy Fund Management. He is author of “The Only Game in Town.”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell still has a window to minimize damage to livelihoods.
Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

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After the hot inflation numbers out of the U.S. on Friday, it would be inadvisable and unfortunate if the Federal Reserve were to resist at its policy meeting this week what have become broad-based calls for it to double the rate at which it is tapering its monthly bond purchases. In fact, the Fed should go well beyond that.

Sadly, the rather shocking consumer price index report for November was not an exception. It reaffirmed other data pointing to an inflation process that is stronger and more persistent than the Fed thought.