Cleveland Fed Pianalto Hints at Lower Bond Buying, Offers 2013-2014 GDP and Unemployment Views

Banking, finance, and taxes

Published: April 8, 2013 9:30 am

Sandra Pianalto, President of the Cleveland Federal Reserve, is talking up the path to economic growth this Monday at The International Economic Forum of the Americas in West Palm Beach, Fla. Much of the speech is about what the Fed has done. Some of the speech, which will be more closely watched, is her observations on some of the challenges facing policymakers today as the Fed and others are working to promote a sustainable global recovery.

Growth is called at a moderate pace in her speech today, and the official line is still maintained that the Fed’s bond-buying program allows for flexibility. Pianalto did say the Fed has to be mindful of risks in the current policy as well. In another hint at smaller bond buying, Pianalto said that economic policy today and ahead would be considered stimulative, even if smaller bond and asset purchases were taking place. Pianalto also said that slowing the pace of bond buying could help mitigate some of the risks from all of the quantitative easing.

There is another hint that the Federal Reserve alone cannot be the sole driver. Pianalto noted that it would be nice if fiscal and regulatory policy aided the recovery as well. Uncertainty also was cited as a drag on the economy. Her growth projection is 2.5% for 2013 and 3.0% for 2014. She also sees unemployment a about 7.5% in 2013 and about 7.0% at the end of 2014.

Today’s speech can be found here.

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