The Federal Reserve has, as expected, officially launched the tapering of its asset purchase program, worth $ 120 billion per month. At the end of the two-day meeting, the FOMC, the monetary policy arm of the US central bank, issued a statement, which reads that the tapering of its bond purchases will begin “at the end of this month”, with a reduction that will be $ 15 billion on a monthly basis.
In particular, purchases of Treasuries will be reduced each month by $ 10 billion and those of mortgage-backed securities by $ 5 billion.
The commission explained that the decision was made “in light of the further significant progress the economy has made towards the Commission’s objectives, compared to December last year”.
The FOMC is ready to make the necessary adjustments to tapering, should it deem it necessary:
“The Commission believes that similar reductions in the pace of net asset purchases are likely to be appropriate in each month, but is ready to adjust the pace of purchases if backed by changes in the economic outlook,” the statement said.