WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Slowing recovery and sprawling coronavirus outbreaks promise several difficult months for the United States until barriers to vaccine production and mass supply are overcome, Federal Reserve Chief Jerome Powell said Monday..
"The rise in new cases of COVID-19, both here and abroad, raises concerns and may become a challenge over the next few months", - said in Powell's Notes for Tuesday's Congress.
"The latest vaccine news is very positive over the medium term. But at the moment, serious challenges and uncertainties remain, including timing, production and distribution, and effectiveness (of vaccines) for different populations. It remains difficult to assess the timing and extent of the economic impact of these events with any degree of certainty.".
This assessment of the situation by the head of the Federal Reserve may, in turn, influence opinions on how much incentive should be in order to help families and businesses overcome the current economic downturn..
At the same time, US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin wrote in his notes, which he will present to Congress in the same hearings that the economy has achieved "significant progress" on the road to recovery and that any further government assistance should be aimed at "workers and small businesses who continue to experience difficulties", not all economic players.
Powell said, however, that the fate of the American economy will continue to depend on the success of the fight against the coronavirus, and until then, the impact of the pandemic will be especially painful for women, minorities and service workers..
"Full economic recovery is unlikely until people are confident that a wide range of activities can resume safely", - Powell said.
(Howard Schneider in Washington and Anne Safir in Berkeley, California. Translated by Elizaveta Zhuravleva. Editor Anna Kozlova)
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