The Fed is on track to begin tapering although it would be premature to raise rates, Fed Chair Powell said during a Panel Discussion at the Virtual Bank for International Settlements-South African Reserve Bank Centenary Conference. Powell also mentioned that supply bottlenecks are still weighing and have gotten worse in some cases recently. At the same time, high inflation and pressure on wages will likely last into next year but will abate. Still, the Chair added, if we see serious risk on inflation expectations persistently rising we will use our tools. The Fed left the fed funds rate steady at 0-0.25% and bond-buying at the $120 billion monthly pace during the September meeting but the policymakers have agreed that the tapering emergency pandemic support should start either mid-November or mid-December. Interest Rate in the United States averaged 5.49 percent from 1971 until 2021, reaching an all time high of 20 percent in March of 1980 and a record low of 0.25 percent in December of 2008. This page provides…