Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Jerome Powell said that he is very happy about the current state of the American economy.
"I’m very happy about the state of the economy now. There’s pretty good reason to think we’re going to continue in a positive vein like that," Powell said, adding that the Fed deserved credit for its role in the long and steady expansion.
"Our policy is part of the reason the economy is in such a good place now," the New York Times cited him as saying.
"We’re just trying to do our jobs and we’re doing fine," the Fed's chair said.
Powell acknowledged signs that global growth might be slowing, but played down concerns about volatility in equity markets, describing stock prices as “one of many factors” the Fed evaluates in making policy decisions.
He also said the Fed was well aware that the benefits of the economic recovery have not been distributed evenly and that there are pockets of America that have yet to rebound from the recession.
Powell also said there was a broad consensus among Fed officials that the central bank should keep raising its benchmark interest rate in the near term.
