Dec 15 (Reuters) – US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday it was unclear how high the risk the omicron variant of the coronavirus poses to the economy, but that people are learning to adapt and it was appropriate to reduce the central bank’s asset purchases faster.
It’s unclear what the omicron’s effect will be on inflation, growth or jobs, but Powell said, “I think wave after wave, people are learning to live with this.”
Powell’s comments at a news conference came after the central bank doubled the pace of its bond buying cut at its last monetary policy meeting that concluded on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Dan Burns; edited in Spanish by Daniela Desantis)
