China News Service, New York, July 9th. The US Federal Reserve Board released a semi-annual monetary policy report on the 9th.
According to the report, vaccination has promoted the restart and strong growth of the US economy, but the new crown epidemic continues to put pressure on the economy.
The Fed stated in the report that in the first half of this year, with the promotion of the vaccination plan and the support of the Fed's loose monetary and fiscal policies, the U.S. economy grew strongly.
However, the pressure of the epidemic on the economy is still there, and employment in the United States is still lower than the level before the outbreak.
The report pointed out that the US job market continues to recover from the impact of the epidemic, but the growth rate of labor demand has exceeded the rate of recovery of labor supply, resulting in increased job vacancies and upward pressure on wages.
Compared with the second half of 2020, the labor force participation rate during this reporting period has not increased much, which is related to factors such as accelerated retirement, increased personal care responsibilities, and concerns about the risk of infection at work.
The report also said that problems such as shortage of materials and recruitment difficulties have restricted many industry activities. Manufacturers and distributors are facing bottlenecks. The personal consumption expenditure price index continues to rise. The core inflation rate excluding food and energy items was 3.4% in May.
It is expected that with the gradual disappearance of temporary factors, economic production will accelerate, price pressures will ease, and the inflation rate will drop accordingly.
The Fed reiterated in the report that its easy monetary policy of maintaining interest rates near zero and maintaining the monthly asset purchase rate will continue to provide "strong support" to the economy until the economy fully recovers.
However, if the inflation rate has been at a high level and does not slow down and long-term inflation expectations continue to be higher than the long-term inflation target, the Federal Reserve said that it is possible to adjust monetary policy in this case.
According to Bloomberg News, this semi-annual monetary policy report was released before Fed Chairman Powell attended the congressional hearing. Powell will present the report at the hearings of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee respectively next week.
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