Richmond Fed, Speech: The Economy, What We’ve Learned

“Which brings us to policy. With the labor market tight and inflation elevated, we have started the process of normalization. We started tapering asset purchases in November and then accelerated that process at our last meeting in December. At current pace, we will be done in mid-March. At that time, we will be free to begin normalizing rates, should circumstances support that. The timing and pace of any rate moves will depend on the answer to my inflation question. The closer that inflation comes back to target levels, the easier it will be to normalize rates at a measured pace. But were inflation to remain elevated and broad-based, we would need to take on normalization more aggressively, as we have successfully done in the past.”