Yellen stresses continuity on Fed policy

New Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen says the Fed will continue to slowly reel in its huge stimulus while keeping a close eye on the labour market.

New Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen says she has no plans to change monetary policy from that mapped out by her predecessor Ben Bernanke.

In her first comments on the US central bank's path forward after the took the helm on February 1, Yellen said the Fed would continue to slowly reel in its huge stimulus while keeping a close eye on the labour market, where recovery remains "far from complete."

"I expect a great deal of continuity in the FOMC's approach to monetary policy," she told the Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives, referring to the Fed's policy body, the Federal Open Market Committee.

"I served on the committee as we formulated our current policy strategy and I strongly support that strategy," she said, according to the prepared text of her testimony.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10am (0200 AEDT).

Yellen said the Fed expected the US economy to grow at a "moderate" pace in 2014-2015, with inflation subdued and no significant danger from the turmoil in emerging markets, some of it sparked by the Fed's own policies of reducing the bond-buying stimulus program.

The recent bouts of volatility around the world "do not pose a substantial risk to the US economic outlook," she told the panel.


2 min read

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Source: AAP


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