(MENAFN) Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams urged for at least USD600 billion bond purchases by the Fed to boost economic growth, Bloomberg reported.
The Fed official argued that the first and second quantitative easing (QE1, QE2) programs had a positive impact over the economy, adding that the Federal Reserve should move for an "open-end" QE3 to spur the economy further.
He also warned if no further policy action was taken, growth will stay near 2 percent this year and grow slightly next year, while the unemployment rate would be near the current 8.3 percent at least for another 18 months.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke made the case for more bond purchases today as policy makers weigh the need for further stimulus before their Sept. 12-13 meeting.
They said in their July 31-Aug. 1 meeting that additional stimulus will be needed "fairly soon" unless the outlook brightened.
Williams, who votes on the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, joined Fed presidents Charles Evans of Chicago and Boston's Eric Rosengren in calling for a program that doesn't announce a fixed target level of securities the Fed will buy, unlike previous quantitative easing programs.
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