WASHINGTON: This combination of pictures shows US Undersecretary of State Lael Brainard and US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. President Joe Biden said yesterday he will make a hotly awaited announcement on who will head the US Federal Reserve likely by the start of next week. – AFP

NORTH WOODSTOCK: President Joe Biden said Tuesday he will make a hotly awaited announcement on who will head the US Federal Reserve likely by the start of next week. "You're gonna hear that in about four days," Biden told reporters during a trip to New Hampshire. The White House has been tight lipped about Biden's intentions for the central bank's top job, a crucial position for the US and international economies as the globe tries to emerge from COVID pandemic disruption.

Some bets are on Biden reappointing Jerome Powell, a Republican who has won praise from officials in the current Democratic administration. However, Biden is also under pressure from the influential leftist wing of his party to pick Lael Brainard, whom backers believe would be tougher on banking regulation.

Regardless of whom he chooses, economists say the central bank is unlikely to shift its policies anytime soon, as a wave of inflation hampers the economy's recovery from the pandemic downturn and sends Biden's approval rating slumping. Under Powell, the Federal Reserve has been at the center of the country's response to the pandemic, slashing its benchmark lending rate to zero and pledging to keep it there for longer than normal to help the economy regain maximum employment.

But a price surge that saw the Labor Department's consumer price index register its biggest year-on-year jump in more than three decades last month has added pressure on the monetary institution. Biden's Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who was also Fed Chair, has signaled her support for Powell, her former deputy, to serve a second term. - AFP