Thursday, March 25, 2010

Bernake to Testify on Exit Strategy



Today the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke in his testimony before the Congress emphasized that the US economy still needs low rates, however the FED may tighten policy if necessary to prevent increase in consumer prices. According to Ben Bernanke, the emergency measures will be lifted when the Federal Reserve System finds it necessary. Once the economy becomes strong enough, the Federal Reserve will act. The tools used by FED, will vary depending on how economy recovers.

Extremely low refinancing rate

“Economy still needs support of monetary policy, and work on further lifting of credit stimulus,” – added Bernanke. In terms of financial crisis the FED, US central bank, voted to lower its key interest rate to its record bottom of 0-0.25% in order to provide the necessary monetary conditions for sooner recovery of economy after it was hit by recession. The US federal funds rate remains at its historical low since December 2008.

Besides, Mr. Bernanke repeated that a hike in discount rate – an emergency credit rate – did not mean a broader tightening of credit to companies and households.

Forex rates

In the Forex market the USD fell on Bernanke testimony as EUR/USD currency pair edged higher to 1.3368 level.


No comments:

Post a Comment