(Bloomberg) — St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard has left open the possibility that the central bank will raise interest rates by 75 basis points at each of its next meetings in November and December, while saying it is too early to do so. Make that call.

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The Fed raised interest rates by 75 basis points for the third consecutive meeting last month, to a target range of 3% to 3.25%. Officials expected 125 basis points to tighten for the rest of the year, indicating a move of 75 basis points in November and 50 basis points in December. Another 25 basis points of tightening are set in 2023, according to their average estimate.

He said Saturday in Washington during an event on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The US central bank is raising interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s to curb inflation at its highest level in 40 years. Investors now see a strong opportunity as the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by 75 basis points in November and December after data on Thursday showed core consumer prices rose more than expected in September.

Forecasts released on September 21 by the Federal Reserve showed that officials expect rates to rise to 4.4% this year and 4.6% thereafter, according to their median estimate.

Pollard said it might not have made much of a difference from a macroeconomic perspective if this additional tightening occurred later this year or in the first quarter of 2023. But he reminded the public that he was a fan of increasing the “forward loading” rate by moving policy quickly to A level that limits inflation, at which point officials can pause and conduct assessments.

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“You want to get where you want to and then after you can respond to the data,” he said, adding that there is a “bullish case” for next year if declines in inflation expectations by both central bank and private sector economists prove correct.

“If this dynamic emerges, it will look very good, and we will be able to stay where we are and watch inflation come down,” he said. “But there is also a lot of risk that inflation is still higher and then we have to respond to that.”

Pollard also supported the continued reduction of the central bank’s balance sheet at the current pace for some time.

“It’s too early to say we’re going to change that policy any time soon,” Pollard said during a panel discussion, in response to a question about whether the Fed will change the flow in its balance sheet. $95 billion a month.

Pollard votes on monetary policy this year and has been one of the more hawkish officials on the 19-member policy committee.

He said he was pleased that the Fed’s 75 basis point interest rate increases had not caused any major market turmoil. “We’ve been able to get this far with relatively low financial pressures,” Pollard said.

In response to questions, he said the moves in the dollar in response to the Fed’s rate hike “wasn’t surprising.” The dollar is up 16.4% in the twelve months, according to the Bloomberg Spot Dollar Index.

“It won’t always be this way,” Pollard said. “If the Fed can get to a place where the committee thinks we are applying meaningful downward pressure on inflation at the level of the policy rate that we have,” and other central banks change their policies and may become more aggressive, “other moves in the dollar could be seen.”

(Updates with Bullard’s comments from the third paragraph.)

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