The economy has made “remarkable progress” in the past few years and normalization of monetary policy may be appropriate, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said today before the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) today in Hartford.

While Rosengren had previously favored accommodative monetary policy, according to prepared remarks he told his audience his views have evolved as economic conditions shifted. As employment and inflation levels approach those consistent with the Fed’s mandate, it may be appropriate to normalize monetary policy more quickly over the next year, “but certainly not as rapidly as in the last tightening cycle, which began in 2004,” he said in a statement.

Now monetary policy will need to adjust to prevent the economy from overshooting on both elements of the Fed’s dual mandate of achieving stable prices and maximum sustainable employment, Rosengren said.

“I firmly believe that the aggressive policy actions taken by the Fed during the financial crisis and recession made a huge difference,” Rosengren said in his remarks. “Our economy would not be as healthy as it is and we would thus not be near a tightening cycle now if we hadn’t been so aggressive then.”

Rosengren also discussed inflation, anticipating that both total and core PCE inflation rates will reach the Fed’s 2 percent target for total PCE inflation by the year’s end.

He said, “Looking ahead, I see the Federal Reserve as likely to continue to gradually normalize U.S. monetary policy.”