Fed calls coronavirus ‘a new risk to the global growth outlook’
(Worthy News) – The Federal Reserve considers its current policy stance as appropriate “for a time” despite the coronavirus outbreak presenting a new threat to the global economy, minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting held in January revealed on Wednesday.
The meeting took place days after the coronavirus outbreak began to drag on the US financial sector. The virus has killed 2,012 people and infected more than 75,000 as of Wednesday morning, surpassing the death toll of 2003’s SARS epidemic. The FOMC highlighted an uptick in economic growth across Asia, but warned that the spreading virus could quickly reverse any gains to gross domestic product.
“Early GDP releases showed a pickup in growth in China and some other Asian economies, though news of the coronavirus outbreak raised questions about the sustainability of that pickup,” according to the January 28-29 minutes. [ Source: Business Insider (Read More…) ]