(Washington) He is not a regular in the Oval Office, far from it: Joe Biden receives Tuesday for a rare interview the boss of the American Federal Reserve Jerome Powell, against a backdrop of galloping inflation.
Posted at 11:03 a.m.
The American president must meet at 1.15 p.m. with the head of the powerful Fed, one of whose missions is to ensure price stability.
The meeting is unusual, as the White House generally stays away from this independent institution.
“The Federal Reserve has the primary responsibility for controlling inflation. My predecessor lowered the Fed and some presidents in the past tried to influence it inappropriately during times of high inflation. I will not do that, ”assured the president in a contribution published Monday by the wall street journal.
“With the right decisions, the United States can successfully transition from a period of recovery to stable and sustained growth, and bring down inflation without losing the historic gains” made in terms of jobs in particular, he said. he also writes.
This meeting, which will be attended by Finance Minister Janet Yellen, underlines Joe Biden’s concern about the surge in prices in the United States, which is weighing on households and on his popularity rating.
Inflation is godsend for the Republican opposition, a few months before legislative elections which risk costing the Democrats their very slim parliamentary majority.
According to a poll conducted between April 25 and 1er May by the Pew Research Institute, 70% of Americans consider inflation to be a very important problem, a proportion far greater than for their other subjects of concern (cost of health care, crime and gun violence).
This investigation was conducted before a school shooting in Texas shocked America and reignited the gun debate.
The Fed assured that it would do everything to bring inflation back into line.
It has started to raise its key rates vigorously, and should continue.
The phenomenon of soaring prices, fueled by the war in Ukraine and also bearing the marks of the sometimes chaotic recovery of economic activity after the COVID-19 pandemic, is global.
The inflation rate in the euro zone broke a new record in May, at 8.1% over one year, according to statistics published on Tuesday.