WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that it is appropriate to consider wrapping up the central bank's taper of asset purchases "a few months sooner" amid inflation pressures.

"The economy is very strong and inflationary pressures are higher, and it is therefore appropriate in my view to consider wrapping up the taper of our asset purchases ... perhaps a few months sooner," Powell told lawmakers at a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee along with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

"Price increases have spread much more broadly in the recent few months across the economy and I think the risk of higher inflation has increased," Powell said, suggesting the central bank would stop using the word "transitory" to describe the nature of recent price increases.

"We tend to use it to mean that that it won't leave a permanent mark in the form of higher inflation. I think it's probably a good time to retire that word and try to explain more clearly what we mean," he said.

While most forecasters continue to expect that inflation will move down significantly over the next year as supply and demand imbalances abate, it's difficult to predict the persistence and effects of supply constraints, Powell said, adding factors pushing inflation upward could "linger well into next year".

"We will use our tools both to support the economy and a strong labor market and to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched," he said, expecting the central bank to discuss accelerating the pace of tapering asset purchases at the next policy meeting on Dec. 14-15.

The Fed began this month to reduce its monthly asset purchase program of 120 billion U.S. dollars by 15 billion dollars. At this pace, the Fed would end its asset purchases by June next year. Some Fed officials and economists have urged the central bank to end asset purchases by March to give more leeway to raise rates sooner.

"Chair Powell has done a good job today being clear about how inflation risks have shifted, emphasizing the increased uncertainty, but also preparing for a faster taper that would give the Fed more options for lifting off in the first half of next year," Jason Furman, former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said Tuesday on Twitter.

Furman added that the central bank will have two more weeks of information regarding the Omicron variant of COVID-19 before it has to make any decisions.

"I don't see how buying more assets this spring will help with a problem that largely seems to be about the pace of vaccination. Moreover long rates have fallen already," Furman said.

Powell noted that the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant pose downside risks to U.S. employment and economic activity and increased uncertainty for inflation.

"We're focused on maximum employment and price stability, and we've tried to adapt our policy as we've moved along," he said.

Powell's comments mark a rare moment of pre-positioning by a Fed chair which signifies he probably already has broad support on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed's policy-making committee, to cut back asset purchases, according to Bloomberg News.

Fed governor Christopher Waller, Raphael Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Mary Daly, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, have all said that they would consider a faster pace of tapering if economic data remained strong.

"The rapid improvement in the labor market and the deteriorating inflation data have pushed me towards favoring a faster pace of tapering and a more rapid removal of accommodation in 2022," Waller said earlier this month.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 6.2 percent in October from a year earlier, the strongest annual gain in over 30 years, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Enditem

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