Fed’s Williams says US central bank’s policymaking now more strategic

By Michael S. Derby

NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York Federal Reserve President John Williams said on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank had made great strides over recent decades in improving how it makes policy over the long run.

Fed research analysis three decades ago was largely tactical and “very much about the here and now” of decision making, Williams said in prepared remarks for a speech to a U.S. central bank statistics conference in Washington. But the Fed has now undergone a large transformation both in transparency and how it thinks about making policy as a longer-running strategy, he said.

Williams’ prepared remarks did not address the monetary policy and economic outlook. He is not scheduled to take audience questions after his remarks.