Budget 2018-19

  Officials see 2021 GDP growth of 6.5%, unemployment at 4.5% The Federal Reserve on Wednesday projected a rapid jump in US economic growth and inflation this year as the  Covid-19  crisis winds down, and repeated its pledge to keep its target interest rate near zero for years to come. The US central bank now sees the economy growing 6.5% this year – predicting the largest annual output growth since 1984 – and the unemployment rate falling to 4.5% by year’s end, compared to growth of 4.2% and unemployment of 5% projected at its December policy meeting. The pace of price increases is now expected to exceed the Fed’s 2% target for the year, hitting 2.4% by year’s end before falling back in 2022. “Indicators of economic activity and employment have turned up,” the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement that kept the benchmark overnight interest rate in a target range of zero to 0.25%. The improvement in the Fed’s economic outlook did not immediately...

  With the US economy still far from its inflation and employment goals it is too early for the Federal Reserve to discuss changing its monthly bond purchases, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said (Reuters) – With the U.S. economy still far from its inflation and employment goals it is too early for the Federal Reserve to discuss changing its monthly bond purchases, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday. “Now is not the time to be talking about exit,” from the $120 billion in government securities the Fed is buying each month, Powell said in a web symposium with Princeton University. “A lesson of the Global Financial Crisis is be careful not to exit too early, and by the way try not to talk about exit all the time…because the markets are listening.””The economy is far from our goals…and we are strongly committed…to using our monetary policy tools until the job is well and truly done,” Powell said, pushing back against recent suggestions from some of his colleagues that the Fed might consid...

While cryptocurrency technology has the potential to reshape global finance, concerns have been raised about its volatility and the potential for money laundering or other crimes The head of the World Bank compared cryptocurrencies to “Ponzi schemes,” the latest financial voice to raise questions about the legitimacy of digital currencies such as Bitcoin. “In terms of using Bitcoin or some of the cryptocurrencies, we are also looking at it, but I’m told the vast majority of cryptocurrencies are basically Ponzi schemes,” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said Wednesday at an event in Washington. “It’s still not really clear how it’s going to work.” The development lender is “looking really carefully” at blockchain technology, a platform that uses so-called distributed ledgers to allow digital assets to be traded securely. There’s hope the technology could be used in developing countries to “follow the money more effectively” and reduce corruption, Kim said...