Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sounded a note of heightened concern over persistently high inflation as he made clear that the central bank will begin tapering its bond purchases shortly but remain patient on raising interest rates.

"The risks are clearly now to longer and more persistent bottlenecks, and thus to higher inflation," Powell said Friday during a virtual panel discussion hosted by the South African Reserve Bank and moderated by Bloomberg's Francine Lacqua.

"I would say our policy is well-positioned to manage a range of plausible outcomes," he said. "I do think it's time to taper, and I don't think it's time to raise rates."

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