"The combination of financial healing, greater balance in the housing market, less fiscal restraint, and, of course, continued monetary policy accommodation bodes well for US economic growth in coming quarters"
- Ben Bernanke, Fed Chairman
In one of the final speeches Ben Bernanke, outgoing Fed Chairman, said that he was cautiously optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy, as headwinds that have held back the economic growth may be waning. Bernanke pointed out that U.S. finances have improved and the outlook for home sales is brighter, while there will be less drag from federal spending cuts and tax hikes. In his speech, Bernanke also said that he tried to make the U.S. central bank more transparent and accountable, while at the same time steering the economy through the most severe economic and financial crisis since the 1930s. Moreover, Bernanke once again defended the Fed against the critics, who claim that central bank's massive asset purchases have had little impact on jumpstarting the recovery. Last month the Chairman signalled that the Fed would start reducing the pace of monthly bond buying from $85 billion to $75 billion in January, taking a first step towards unwinding unprecedented stimulus designed by Bernanke to put millions of jobless Americans back to work. The Fed's monetary policy helped to lower unemployment rate to a five-year low of 7% in November, while expanding the Fed's balance sheet to $4.02 trillion.
After eight years of leading the U.S. central bank, Ben Bernanke is stepping down at the end of this month and will hand over to Janet Yellen.
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