Bernanke: Europe is committed to euro
EUROPEAN leaders are committed to ensuring the survival of the euro and have enough money to meet obligations of heavily indebted member countries, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday.
In remarks to the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington, Bernanke said a euro stabilisation package of nearly $1 trillion was “a lot of money” and enough to protect Greece, Portugal and Spain from volatile credit markets for a number of years.
But he acknowledged that investors were not yet convinced Europe’s debt problems would be resolved, and said more European rescue money may be needed.
Bernanke also said that the US economy appeared to have enough momentum to avoid a double-dip recession, pointing to strengthening consumer and business spending. He noted the pace of recovery was moderate considering the depth of the recession.
Meanwhile Federal Reserve member Charles Evan said interest rates will stay low for “quite some time”. Evans reiterated the Fed’s pledge to keep rates low for “an extended period”, which he said meant about six months to him.