Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said the U.S. jobless rate will decline “slowly.”

Still, the economy is “far away” from what the Fed aims for on employment and job creation to allow for an exit from crisis-imposed policy measures, Dudley said during a panel discussion in Hong Kong today.

If policy makers observe an unanchoring of inflation expectation, they may “bring forward the time of exit,” he added.