WASHINGTON (TNND) — Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said Wednesday during a press conference that the GDP for the third quarter is above three percent.
“Economic growth has strengthened,” Warsh said. “The GDP increase in the first half of this year was revised up from an earlier estimate of 1.8% up to 2.4%, and the third quarter appears to have brought an even more rapid advance, led by healthy consumer spendinglikely running above 3% growth.”
The press conference came after the Federal Reserve decided to hold its benchmark interest rate steady even though inflation is still a concern.
Warsh addressed inflation and said that it did need to come down and it was the Fed’s responsibility to ensure that would happen.
“On the employment side of the Fed’s dual mandate, conditions are quite positive,” he said. “And yet, Americans are still dealing with inflation that has been running above the committee’s objective for close to six years. It’s our responsibility to get inflation down.”
He said that the Fed has observed that financial markets have shown bouts of volatility and shifting correlations.
“Real activity is clearly pointing in the right direction,” Warsh said. “That’s good news, but inflation is still too high. Energy and related prices have moved higher again in recent weeks and our job is to ensure that relative price changes in some sectors do not broaden out across the economy.”