Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell says the case for fiscal policy right now is very, very strong. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it will keep buying government bonds until the economy makes “substantial” progress, a step intended to reassure financial markets and keep long-term borrowing rates low indefinitely. Chair Jerome Powell said he and other Fed officials expect the economy to rebound at a healthy pace next year as viral vaccines become widely distributed. “The case for fiscal policy right now is very, very strong,” Powell said, “and I think that is widely understood now. The officials now foresee the economy contracting 2.4 percent this year, less than the 3.7 percent decline it envisioned in September.

Source: The Standard December 17, 2020 00:45 UTC