Mubasher: The chair of the US Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen said on Sunday that the American economy remains strong and the strength of the labor market calls for continued gradual increases in interest rates despite subdued inflation.
“We will be paying close attention to the inflation data in the months ahead. My best guess is that these soft readings will not persist,” Reuters quoted Yellen in a speech she gave at an international banking seminar in Washington.
Yellen expects the US economy to exceed its long-term trend during the second half of 2017, stressing that the impact of recent hurricanes on the economy should be temporary.
“We continue to expect that the ongoing strength of the recovery will warrant gradual increases in that rate to sustain a healthy labor market and stabilize inflation around our 2% longer-run objective,” she further added.
