Federal Reserve officials held a vigorous debate last month on whether the economic rebound in the US would soon be strong enough for the central bank to start dialling back its pandemic-era stimulus more quickly than expected.
Minutes from the June meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting released on Wednesday showed two prevailing camps wrangling over whether the US economy was ready for a speedier reduction of its $120bn asset purchase programme.
That debate is expected to take centre stage in the coming months.
Fed officials hinted that “tapering” of the purchases may start earlier than expected given the stronger economic outlook, buoyed by the fast US vaccination rollout, but conditions were not quite ripe yet.
“The committee’s standard of ‘substantial further progress’ was generally seen as not having yet been met, though participants expected progress to continue,” the minutes said.