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Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin said Friday he’s on board with reducing the amount of economic help the central bank is providing as concerns grow about inflation.

With the Fed indicating that it’s likely to start pulling back on its monthly bond purchases, Barkin said that seems reasonable, and he’s leaning toward beginning the process in November. Minutes from the September Fed meeting indicated that officials want to start tapering either next month or in December.

“If we do decide to taper at the next meeting, we’re going to have a discussion on which of those two dates, I’m sure, and my instinct would be if you’re going to decide it, go ahead and move,” he told CNBC’s Steve Liesman during a live “Squawk Box” interview. “But I’m certainly going to be open to debates on both sides.”

Fed officials have indicated they’ve met their inflation goal of 2%, though the full and inclusive employment part of the mandate remains elusive despite significant progress.

Like many of his colleagues, Barkin pointed to temporary factors like supply chain problems that have pushed car prices higher as a major factor in driving inflation, which is running around a 30-year high.

But he also conceded that it’s been a bigger problem that he expected.

“I do think there’s risk on the inflation side, and I’m watching that very carefully,” he said.

The minutes showed that the pace of bond purchases likely will slow by about $15 billion each month — $10 billion in Treasurys and $5 billion in mortgage-backed securities.

Fed officials have stressed that even after the start of tapering, it will be some time before interest rate hikes begin. Market pricing currently is for the first increase to come in July 2022, with another likely before the end of the year, according to the CME’s FedWatch tracker.

Barkin said he would base his rates decision on two factors — whether inflation is going to stay elevated or come back to its norm of around 1.5% to 2% of the past 25 years or so, and how close the labor market is to full employment.

“Is the labor market going to be this tight over the next six months? Is inflation going to come down or not?” he said. “Different answers to those questions in my mind would lead me to different points of view on when we would start to increase rates.”

He also was asked his position on whether Fed officials should be allowed to own individual stocks, but declined to answer pending an inquiry Chairman Jerome Powell is leading into best practices. Several officials have come under fire for trading stocks, and two regional presidents have resigned following controversies over their activities.

Consumers spent at a much faster pace than expected in September, defying expectations for a pullback amid pervasive supply chain problems, the Census Bureau reported Friday.

Retail sales for the month increased by 0.7%, against the Dow Jones estimate for a decline of 0.2%. Excluding auto-related sales, the number rose 0.8%, better than the 0.5% forecast.

Compared with a year ago, sales were up 13.9% on the headline number and 15.6% excluding autos.

The increase came during a month when the government ended the enhanced benefits it had been providing during the Covid-19 pandemic and against forecasts that growth would slow in the third quarter due to the delta variant spread and a perceived pullback in consumer activity.

But spending accelerated as coronavirus cases continued to drop.

“Students heading back to school and workers returning to the office are likely the catalysts for the increased retail sales,” said Natalie Kotlyar, national leader of BDO’s retail and consumer products practice. “People who are back to working in a downtown office may be taking more shopping trips on their lunch break or after work. With school back in session and many teens vaccinated, parents may also be more comfortable allowing their teens to take shopping trips to the mall.”

Sporting goods, music and book stores led the way with a 3.7% increase. General merchandise increased 2% while miscellaneous retailers rose 1.8%. As gas prices pushed higher, spending at fuel stations jumped 1.8%, for a 38.2% surge over the past year.

Food and beverage spending increased 0.7%, though restaurants and bars saw a gain of just 0.3%, a sign that fears over the virus may have kept some people at home. Food and drinking establishment spending is up 29.5% over the past year.

Online sales rose 0.6% for the month, while auto sales increased 0.5% despite inventory problems brought on by a shortage in semiconductors.

However, doubts remained about whether the sales strength can continue.

“Services spending may see some renewed strength over the next couple of months, as virus cases continue to drop back,” Capital Economics senior U.S. economist Andrew Hunter wrote. “But with goods shortages likely to persist, and the resulting surge in prices eating into real incomes, we expect consumption growth to remain subdued.”

The spending increases persisted against a backdrop of unexpectedly resilient inflation, which is running around 30-year highs. The consumer price index, which measures the cost of a variety of goods and services, rose another 0.4% in September and is up 5.4% from a year ago, though the gain was smaller when stripping out food and energy.

Inflation is being pushed higher by supply chain problems that have seen massive backups at ships along the California coast and prompted President Joe Biden to order the ports to stay open 24 hours.

Still, there are concerns that the supply problem will hamper the upcoming holiday shopping season, and consumers are being encouraged to shop now to avoid problems later.

Correction: Natalie Kotlyar is the national leader of BDO’s retail and consumer products practice. A previous version misspelled her last name.