Bernanke: Energy a threat

But Fed chief says the economy is healthy and that central bank may pause to assess new reports.
April 27, 2006: 10:24 AM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Thursday that the economy has rebounded "briskly" after Hurricane Katrina last year and added that the pace of economic growth would slow a bit as the year progresses.

"The economy has been performing well and the near-term prospects look good," Bernanke told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

Bernanke also said that record high oil prices remain a concern that could pose a risk to both economic growth and the inflation outlook.

"Increases in energy prices have pushed up overall consumer price inflation over the past year or so," Bernanke said. But he added that the inflation outlook is "reasonably favorable."

Bernanke also said that interest-rate rises will be "increasingly dependent" on economic data and policy-makers could at some point pause in their 22-month credit-tightening campaign to assess the outlook.

Fed policy-makers "will continue to monitor the incoming data closely to assess the prospects for both growth and inflation. In particular, even if in the Committee's judgment the risks to its objectives are not entirely balanced, at some point in the future the Committee may decide to take no action at one or more meetings in the interest of allowing more time to receive information relevant to the outlook," he said.

Fed policy-makers will meet on May 10 and are widely expected to raise the target for the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 5 percent. The Fed has previously hinted that it's nearing an end to its rate-hiking campaign, which began in June 2004.

On Wall Street, stocks moved off their lows Thursday morning after Bernanke's remarks. Bonds rallied as well, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-Year Treasury note lower, to about 5.08 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Pode-se ler o testemunho na íntegra através deste link:

http://federalreserve.gov/BoardDocs/Testimony/2006/20060427/default.htm