Washington, (EFE) .- The president of the Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, stressed his independence against the pressures of the president Donald Trump to lower the interest rates, and stressed that this insistence does not affect his work and that the prudent is to wait to see how the economic situation evolves.
“We are going to continue doing the same: use our tools to promote maximum employment and price stability for the benefit of the US people. We will consider only economic data, perspectives, risk balance, and that is all. Therefore, it does not affect our work or our way of doing so,” he said in a press conference.
His intervention took place after, at the end of a two -day meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Central Bank decided to maintain the key interest rate in the current range of between 4.25 and 4.5%.
The statement of that agency did noted that the risks of greater inflation and unemployment in the country have increased and also the uncertainty about economic perspectives.
Read: Risks of greater inflation and unemployment grow: Central Bank of the US
Powell stressed that the economy itself remains in a “solid” position.
“So we think we can wait and act when it is clear what is appropriate to do. (…) Right now there is no reason to make a decision and there is no real reason to do so,” he added before the media.
‘You don’t have to hurry to lower the rates’
Although Powell admitted that uncertainty is “extremely high” due to the tariff war undertaken by the Republican Administration, he reiterated his opinion that you should not hurry to lower the rates.
“The costs of doing nothing are low, so that is what we are doing,” he said while the US president insists both his networks and some appearances that the Fed is reacting late.
‘I have never asked for a meeting with a president’
Jerome Powell said that he never seeks to meet with presidents of the United States and that, to the extent that he has had such a meeting, it is because the president sought interaction.
“I have never asked for a meeting with any president and I will never do it,” Powell said.
“There is never a reason for me to ask for a meeting, it has always been the other way around,” he said.
With Reuters information
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