Yellen of the US Treasury Thinks the Fed Can Reduce Inflation Without Sparking a Recession

Because of the healthy employment market and household balance sheets in the United States, low loan costs, and a strong banking sector, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen thinks the Federal Reserve can drive inflation down without precipitating a recession.

"All of those characteristics imply that the Fed has a route to bring down inflation without precipitating a recession," Yellen told the House Financial Services Committee on Thursday. "I know it will be their mission to try to do that."

During a hearing on the activities of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, Yellen said that inflation is the "No. 1 economic challenge" confronting the country and the Biden administration.

"It has a significant negative effect on many disadvantaged families." And we're laser-focused on combating inflation," Yellen added, reiterating the Biden administration's attempts to keep gasoline costs down by releasing significant amounts of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and reopening clogged U.S. ports.

Republican senators tried to persuade her to blame rising inflation on the Biden administration's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief spending plan last year, but she refused.

Yellen said that a number of reasons were driving up inflation, including energy price hikes as a result of Russia's war of Ukraine and ongoing pandemic-related supply chain issues, as well as high inflation in other nations.

"It does illustrate that there are elements other than expenditure that are crucial to inflation in the United States," she added.

The labor market in the United States remained tight on Thursday, with producer price inflation slowing from 1.6 percent in March to 0.5 percent in April, according to Labor Department data.