The President of the Federal Reserve (Bank Fed) United States, Ben Bernanke. AFP

• The Fed estimates provide for growth is moderate in 2012

The Fed announced last month that expected to keep interest rates of reference between 0% and 0.25% until the end of 2014

WASHINGTON, United States (07/FEB/2012)-the President of the Federal Reserve (Bank Fed) United States, Ben Bernanke, defended before the Senate the monetary policy of low interest rates in the country and insisted that the recovery will be still “moderate” in order to significantly reduce unemployment, currently at 8.3%.

“We believe that inflation will be lower than the target of 2 per cent in the next two years and will not allow high inflation to boost employment,” said Bernanke, to questions from the Republican senators fearing overheating in the economy.

The Fed announced last month that expected to keep interest rates of reference between 0% and 0.25% “until the end of 2014″, which is an extension of more than one year with regard to announced in 2011, when he said that it would be up to “mid-2013″.

Bernanke said at a hearing before the Senate that “in the past two years and half the US economy has been recovering gradually from the recent deep depression”.

However, it considered that the Fed estimates provide for growth to be even “moderate over the next two years” to achieve a significant reduction in the unemployment rate.

Among the factors that keep prospects at a reduced level, the Fed Chairman said “pessimism” shown by the consumers, whose spending accounts for 70% of the gross domestic product (GDP), and the housing market, which is still “depressed”.

On the European crisis, he reiterated that the uncertainty caused by the financial strains remains, although slightly reduced due to the latest measures from the authorities of the old continent.

It also recognized that Europe cannot enter into recession, “but that the duration and depth is uncertain”.

However, he recalled that US exports to Europe are only 2% of GDP and that European financial volatility has strengthened the position of the us as a “safe haven” in uncertain times.