(Reuters] – Patrick Harker of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank stated Monday that he did not anticipate interest rates increasing until after the central banks has stopped buying assets.

“I don’t expect that the federal funds rate will rise before the tapering is complete, but we are monitoring inflation very closely and are prepared to take action, should circumstances warrant it,” Harker said in remarks prepared for a virtual event organized by the Economic Club of New York.

He also stated that he expected inflation to decrease over the next 12 months as the supply-demand imbalances created by the pandemic subside. This echos a message Fed officials shared last week, when they said they would reduce asset purchases to $15 billion per month.