Most Federal Reserve officials signaled Wednesday they were prepared to raise their short-term benchmark rate at least three times next year to cool high inflation.

As expected, officials also approved plans to more quickly scale back the Fed’s pandemic stimulus efforts in response to hotter inflation, opening the door to rate increases starting next spring.

Fed officials voted to hold rates near zero on Wednesday, but the latest projections are a significant shift from just three months ago. In September, around half of those officials thought rate increases wouldn’t be warranted until 2023.

Fed Decision: Officials Project Three Interest Rate Rises in 2022 and Accelerate Stimulus Wind Down – WSJ