(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire John Paulson said the Federal Reserve has waited too long to cut interest rates and expects the central bank to lower them in the months ahead.
By the end of next year, “my best guesstimate would be around 3%, perhaps 2.5%” for the federal funds rate, Paulson, 68, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Paulson, known for making a massive bet against mortgage bonds before the 2008 financial crisis, has been among those talked about as a potential Treasury secretary if Donald Trump wins the presidency.
He, along with Cantor Fitzgerald LP Chief Executive Officer Howard Lutnick and Key Square Group LP’s Scott Bessent, attended an Economic Club of New York event on Thursday in which Trump pledged to cut the corporate tax rate, slash regulations and audit the federal government.
A Wall Street Journal report earlier this year said that Trump’s advisers were thinking of ways to reduce the Fed’s independence. Paulson said it’s important for the president and Treasury secretary to be able to comment on economic policy, including interest rates.
Elevated real interest rates — the difference between prevailing bond yields and current inflation — suggest that the Fed is behind the curve in easing monetary policy, Paulson said.
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