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Biden will meet Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to discuss
the state of American and global economy, the White House said
late on Sunday.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Monday, Biden
said the Federal Reserve's main role was to control inflation.
Biden said his "predecessor demeaned the Fed, and past
presidents have sought to influence its decisions
inappropriately during periods of elevated inflation. I won’t do
this."
He said he agreed with the Fed's assessment "that fighting
inflation is our top economic challenge right now."
Biden added the U.S. government should "take every practical
step to make things more affordable for families during this
moment of economic uncertainty."
Powell was formally sworn in last week to begin his second
four-year term as head of the U.S. central bank.
The Fed is under pressure to decisively make a dent in an
inflation rate that is running more than three times its 2% goal
and has caused a jump in the cost of living for Americans. It
faces a difficult task in dampening demand in the economy enough
to curb inflation while not causing a recession.
There are already signs inflation has peaked. In the 12 months
through April, the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price
index, the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, advanced 6.3%
after jumping 6.6% in March, the Commerce Department reported on
Friday.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Rhea Binoy in
Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue and Lincoln Feast)
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