WORLD
Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke on US Economy: 'Far Too Early to Declare Victory'
Baku, March 28 (AZERTAC). The U.S. economy is "stronger and more stable" than it was a year ago and the financial stress in Europe is easing, but many challenges remain including adding more jobs for the long-term unemployed and getting the housing market back on track, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in an ABC News interview Tuesday.
"And so yeah, I'm sleeping a little better," he said in an exclusive interview. "But again, I think it's really important not to be complacent. We have a long way to go, a lot of work to do, and we're going to keep doing that."
Bernanke, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve since Feb. 2006, acknowledged that gas prices are a "major problem" but he called them a "moderate risk" in threatening the economic recovery. The national average price for a gallon of regular has risen to $3.92, according to the Energy Department.
He said it's "far too early to declare victory" on a strong economic recovery and the national unemployment rate of 8.3 percent is still "too high."
The head of the U.S. central bank forecasts the unemployment rate will be close to 8 percent by year's end, "but that depends very much on how fast the economy grows."
Although the U.S. has seen moderate job growth for the past six months, when Sawyer asked, "What's the one thing that keeps you up at night?" Bernanke pointed to 40 percent of the unemployed who have been out of work for more than six months.
"Those people are obviously facing a lot of hardship," he said.
Bernanke, who was chairman during the financial crisis that began in 2008, described what it felt like to be the only principle policymaker who bridged the administrations of former President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama.
"I was there for the transition, and I was the continuity over that period. And, yes, this has been a very serious crisis followed by a tough recession and recovery," he said. "It's been a long haul certainly."
For 2009, Time Magazine named him the Person of the Year and said he was "the most powerful nerd on the planet."
Bernanke said the job of the Federal Reserve "is to do the right thing for the economy irrespective of politics."