Raphael Bostic of Atlanta Federal Reserve stated Friday that he believes the U.S.’s momentum will be enough to weather the coronavirus pandemic. Bostic also said that he still has the option of accelerating the central bank’s bond taper.

The World Health Organization stated earlier on Friday that it had been designating the new omicron variant, first identified in South Africa, as being “of concern.”

Bostic stated that if the new Omicron Coronavirus variant is consistent with the previous patterns, there should be less economic slowdown than the Delta variant.

Bostic told Fox News that “we have a lot o momentum in the economic right now” citing strong employment growth. “And this momentum, I am hopeful, will allow us to get through the next wave however it turns out.”

Bostic said that he would be open to fasterening the rate at which the central banking slows down its asset purchase so that officials have more flexibility to react to inflation.

Bostic stated that the Fed could end asset purchases at the beginning of the next quarter or the middle of the second, depending on how the economy performs. If the pace is current, Fed officials will be finished tapering purchases in the middle next year. The next meeting of policymakers is scheduled for December 14-15.

Investors were prompted by the news about the omicron variation to reduce their expectations for the Fed’s and other central bank’s ability to raise interest rates in the coming year.

According to CME’s FedWatch toolMoney market traders had priced in a 53.7% probability of at least one rate increase by the Federal Open Market Committee during its June meeting Friday afternoon. This was down from Wednesday’s 82.1% likelihood.

Bostic stated Friday that he does not rule out possible actions, and suggested it was “certainly possible” for Fed officials to increase interest rates by at least two times next year in the event of rising inflation.

Bostic declared, “We won’t let inflation get out control.”