by Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir
PARIS (Reuters) – The chairman of the US Federal Reserve pledged to fight inflation on Tuesday during his hearing before the United States Senate with a view to his reappointment as head of the institution.
Speaking to the Congressional Upper House Banking Committee, Jerome Powell said the rapid recovery in the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic was causing “persistent imbalances and bottlenecks between supply and demand, and therefore high inflation “.
“We know that high inflation has serious consequences,” he added, pledging to use all the instruments available to the central bank “to prevent higher inflation from setting in”.
This hearing is a first step in the process of confirming the re-appointment of Jerome Powell as head of the Fed for a new four-year term, which must be voted on by the entire Senate.
Governor Lael Brainard will be heard on Thursday for the post of vice-president of the Fed within the framework of a mandate also of four years which should allow her to succeed Richard Clarida.
(Report Howard Schneider and Ann Saphit; French version Claude Chendjou, edited by Marc Angrand)
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