Fed may tighten before global risks fixed: Bullard

US policymakers may not be willing or able to wait for all global uncertainties to be resolved before they begin normalising loose monetary policy, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Tuesday.

Such issues include the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami, the European sovereign debt crisis and the U.S. fiscal situation and possibility of a government shutdown, Bullard said in prepared statements ahead of a speech in the Czech capital. "The process of normalizing policy, even once it begins, will still leave unprecedented policy accommodation on the table," said Bullard, who is not a voting member of the Fed's policy setting panel this year. "The FOMC may not be willing or able to wait until all global uncertainties are resolved to begin normalizing policy," he added, referring to the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee. Still, he added that the most likely prospect was that the four main risks would be resolved "without becoming global macroeconomic shocks". Bullard, seen as a centrist on the spectrum of supporters and opponents of aggressive Fed actions to boost the economy, said that US growth prospects had improved since last summer and that an improving economy 18 months post-recession was a "strong positive." He said on Saturday that the Fed should consider trimming it's USD 600 billion bond purchase programme given solid US economic data. On Monday, top Fed officials said the US economy still needed support from the Fed's bond buying programme, with some suggesting recent spikes in gas and food price are likely to be short-lived. The Fed, which has kept short-term rates near zero since December 2008, has been buying US. Treasuries since November to push down longer-term borrowing costs and keep the US recovery on track. The program is slated to end in June. In his Prague remarks, Bullard said monetary policy could not remain ultra-accommodative indefinitely. "Discussion of the normalization of US policy will likely return as the key issue in 2011," Bullard said.