Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, said on Thursday that the United States “may well” be in a recession already, but that it should get the coronavirus under control before getting back to work.
“The first order of business will be to get the spread of the virus under control, and then to resume economic activity,” he told NBC’s “Today” show, in a rare television interview. “The virus is going to dictate the timetable here.”
Mr. Powell’s comments contrast those of President Trump, who has suggested that he wants many Americans to get back to work as soon as Easter, on April 12, and that efforts to slow the spread of the virus by shuttering large parts of the economy should not cause more harm than the disease itself does.
The pandemic is inflicting enormous economic damage in the United States as quarantines close businesses, force people to stay at home and create uncertainty that has spurred volatility in financial markets. Mr. Powell and his colleagues have been taking aggressive measures to shore up the economy, and he used his first major interview since the crisis began to underline what they are doing — and why.
“You may well see significant rises in unemployment, significant declines in economic activity,” he said, adding that eventually the economy would bounce back, helped by central bank policy. “We want to make that rebound as vigorous as possible.”
Reference: NY Times
