Powell and Lagarde Warn Against the Pandemic

Powell and Lagarde Warn Against the Pandemic Powell and Lagarde warn against the pandemic. FED President Powell and ECB President Lagarde spoke on the increase and effects of the epidemic. US Federal Reserve (FED) President Jerome Powell and European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde made warnings about the rapidly increasing coronavirus cases worldwide. Stating that the increase in coronavirus cases harmed the recovery process in the US economy, FED President Powell noted that the economic recovery slowed down. Jerome Powell said, “We are focused on the near-term risk and the spread of Covid-19 recently”  stated that although the vaccine news are positive, it is too early to see the impact of this on economic recovery. Powell said the United States "has a long way to go" to achieve full employment.   Lagarde: The First Half of 2021 Will Be Tough European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde stated that ensuring that the economic crisis experienced due to the coronavirus outbreak should not turn into a financial crisis and that is the biggest challenge for policy makers. Speaking at the New Economic Forum, which Bloomberg organized, Lagarde emphasized that she sees the financial crisis, which they have managed to prevent so far, as a potential risk. Christine Lagarde stated that the ECB will continue to focus on long-term bank lending with a 1.35 trillion euro urgent bond purchase program as its main policy tool. Stating that a vaccine that will be released in the short term will not change the ECB's current predictions, Lagarde said that the bank already predicts that such a medical solution will come in 2021. According to ECB President Lagarde, the first half of 2021 will be tough and it will not be possible to reach pre-epidemic levels before the second half of the year.       Source: Bloomberg HT