(Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called the US economy “strong and resilient,” saying it remains on a path where a recession can be avoided.
© Bloomberg
Janet Yellen, US Treasury secretary, left, and Enoch Godongwana, South Africa’s finance minister, during a news conference at the National Treasury in Pretoria, South Africa, on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. The US is seeking to deepen its economic integration with South Africa in pursuit of policies to diversify global supply chains, Yellen said.
Most Read from Bloomberg
“What I see is a path in which inflation is declining significantly and the economy is remaining strong,” Yellen said Monday in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program.
Load Error
The pace of increases in the consumer price index, which peaked at 9.1% in the year through June, has since declined to 6.5% in December. Yellen said that it still “remains too high,” and that bringing it down has been President Joe Biden’s top priority.
Yellen also pointed to a strong December jobs report as evidence of the economy’s momentum.
“You don’t have a recession when you have 500,000 jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in more than 50 years,” she said.
The Labor Department reported last week that employers added 517,000 new jobs in December, exceeding all economist estimates, and unemployment fell to 3.4%, it’s lowest level since 1969.
The Treasury chief also reiterated her call for Congress to raise the debt limit, saying that “not to do so would produce an economic and financial catastrophe.” The Treasury is expected to run out of room to keep paying all federal obligations sometime later this year.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.