WASHINGTON, May 2 (NNN-Xinhua) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on the U.S. Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and adopt quantitative easing, citing an economy he said is “doing well.”
“Our Federal Reserve has incessantly lifted interest rates, even though inflation is very low, and instituted a very big dose of quantitative tightening,” Trump tweeted.
The U.S. economy, Trump said, “has the potential to go up like a rocket if we did some lowering of rates, like one point, and some quantitative easing,” noting that the economy is “doing well” in light of a 3.2 percent first-quarter GDP growth.
The president said that “with our wonderfully low inflation, we could be setting major records” and “make our National Debt start to look small!”
Data released Monday by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that excluding the volatile energy and food prices, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, a preferred inflation gauge by the Fed, was up 1.6 percent year-over-year in March, below the Fed’s target inflation rate of 2 percent.
The U.S. central bank, which hiked interest rates for four consecutive times last year, has opted for a more patient policy stance by maintaining the target range for the federal funds rate at 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent during the first two policy meetings this year.
The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s monetary policymaking body, will conclude another two-day policy meeting Wednesday. While it is widely believed that a rate hike is unlikely, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks at the press conference on Wednesday will be closely watched.
NNN-Xinhua
