(Reuters) – The Federal Reserve is committed to using all means to help the American economy recover from the blows caused by the coronavirus epidemic, Chair Jerome Powell said Monday.
“We are committed to using our resources as long as we can, as long as it takes, to ensure that the recovery is as strong as possible and to limit permanent damage to the economy.”
Powell made the remarks in a previously announced statement to the three-day full House of Representatives, the Financial Services Committee, the House of Representatives and the Financial Services Committee, which he gave to Congress this week.
The set of “significant improvements” in the economic landscape of the poll was largely repeated last week after the Fed’s latest policy meeting, with policymakers promising to keep interest rates at zero until the economy reaches full employment and inflation has moderated. Break the central bank’s 2% target.
He said the housing sector has rebounded, consumer spending has recovered about 75% of its decline, and half of the 22 million jobs lost in the crisis have returned. Both employment and overall economic activity remain well below their epidemic levels and the way forward is highly uncertain, he said.
Powell’s speech included an update to the Fed’s Main Street Lending Program, which now funds or owns about 0 2 billion in 230 loans in the pipeline. “If major pathology businesses and nonprofits affect the ability to access credit through common channels and the termination of other support programs, it will increase over time,” he said.
Dan Burns in New York and Ann Sapphire in Berkeley, California reported; Edited by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis
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