Fed Director "Carefully Lower Interest Rates""Next year, gradually"

Christopher Waller, director of the U.S. Federal Reserve, said the Fed needs to carefully and slowly cut interest rates.

"The overall data indicates that the Fed should be more cautious about the pace of rate cuts than it was at its September meeting," Waller said at a conference at the Stanford Hoover Institute in California on the 14th local time, according to Bloomberg and others.

If current economic conditions persist, monetary policy can be carefully shifted to a neutral level, he stressed.

Waller said he is disappointed when it comes to the recent inflation rate that exceeded expectations, but noted that the economy is building a solid foundation, with employment nearing the Fed's target and inflation approaching 2%, and recent indicators are signaling that the economy may not slow as expected, with upward economic growth and more jobs.

Waller said the basic position is that interest rates should be cut gradually next year, and although much remains to be removed through monetary policy, rate cuts will be made gradually if the economy remains in good shape as it is now.