US economy will need support for ‘some time’, Fed’s Powell warns

Recovery for the world’s largest economy remains ‘uneven and far from complete’, the Fed’s Jerome Powell tells Congress.

The United States economic recovery remains “uneven and far from complete” and it will be “some time” before the Federal Reserve considers changing policies it adopted to help the country back to full employment, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday. The US central bank’s interest rate cuts and purchases of $120bn in monthly government bonds “have materially eased financial conditions and are providing substantial support to the economy,” Powell said in remarks prepared for delivery to a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the state of the economy. “The economy is a long way from our employment and inflation goals, and it is likely to take some time for substantial further progress to be achieved,” said Powell, referring to the hurdle the Fed has set for discussing when it might be appropriate to pare back support.