Bernanke says "uncertain" about economic developments, backtracking from QE3

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday that the central bank was uncertain about the near-term developments in the U.S. economy, and the Fed was not ready to adopt another round of quantitative easing (QE) moves to shore up the economy.

"Today the situation is more complex. Inflation is higher. Inflation expectations are close to our target," Bernanke told U.S. lawmakers during his second day of the two-day Capitol Hill testimony.

"We'd like to see if, in fact, the economy does pick up, as we are projecting," he said in taking questions from lawmakers when giving his twice-a-year economic report to Congress.

The central bank chief said his agency was not prepared at this point to take further accommodative monetary policy action, backtracking from his Wednesday remarks that the Fed was poised to roll out additional stimulus moves if the U.S. economy worsens.

When the U.S. economy stalled last summer, the Fed in November rolled out the QE2 to purchase 600-billion-dollar long-term Treasury securities, in an effort to keep medium- and long-term interest rates low and facilitate business and household borrowing.

Fed has spent more than 2 trillion dollars to boost the economy since the financial crisis broke out in the fall of 2008, which has invited sharp criticism both at home and abroad, as many economists hold that the QE moves failed to bolster the U.S. economy.

Source:Xinhua

	Weekly review