The US economy continues to strengthen, albeit at a slower rate because of the Delta variant of Covid, the US Federal Reserve has said.
The central bank said the jobs market was improving and that currently high rates of inflation remained transitory.
It said it may start reducing its emergency support for the economy “soon”, but did not say when.
Half of its policymakers also projected interest rates will need to rise in 2022 from current rock-bottom levels.
The US economy has rebounded strongly this year from its pandemic lows, but there are fears Delta will derail the recovery.