USA: Omicron variant could weigh on economy and inflation, says Powell

The president of the Fed judges that “it now appears that the factors which push inflation upwards will largely persist next year”.

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US Central Bank (Fed) President Jerome Powell said “the recent increase in COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant pose downside risks to jobs and economic activity and increase uncertainty about inflation ”.

Jerome Powell, whom Joe Biden has just renamed for a second term at the head of the Fed, also judges that “it now appears that the factors pushing inflation upwards will largely persist next year”, according to the speech he will deliver on Tuesday morning to the Senate Banking Committee, and which was published on Monday.

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