Jerome Powell says ground for interest rate increase at next meeting shaping up

Mr. Jerome POWELL nominated by Donald Trump to take over the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve has said “I think that the ground for an interest rate increase at our next meeting is shaping up”. Powell, who made a brief presentation at the beginning of the session, pledged to do everything in his power to protect the independent status of FED, while at the same time trying to reach the Fed’s full employment and price stability targets if his nomination was approved.

Following the presentation, Powell replied to the questions of senators stressing that the US economy is now in good shape and he supported the normalization policy of Fed.

Pointing out that the unemployment rate fell to 4.1 percent and continued to grow, Powell said, “I think that the ground for the interest rate increase at our next meeting is occurring”.

Upon repeated questions about the issue, Powell said he would not be able to guarantee that if interest rate would increase or not in December, because the decision would be taken at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting following the hearing of all officials.