Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will not rule out more monetary interventions to prop up the struggling US economy, he said in an interview with broadcaster CBS that aired Sunday, dpa reported.
The US central bank in November announced a controversial plan to buy up 600 billion dollars in government bonds over the coming eight months. The new round of "quantitative easing" was criticized by some conservatives and foreign governments for pushing down the value of the dollar.
Bernanke told the 60 Minutes television news magazine that it could take four or five years until the US job market normalizes. The weak recovery could lead to additional monetary interventions, but any move will depend on economic indicators and inflation.
He described a "normal" unemployment rate as between 5 and 6 per cent. In November, the jobless rate stood at 9.8 per cent, the highest level since April.
The Fed chief said the danger exists that the recovery might not be self sustaining.
"It's very close to the border," he said. "It takes about two and a half per cent growth just to keep unemployment stable. And that's about what we're getting. We're not very far from the level where the economy is not self-sustaining."
...