Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, speaks during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, on Wednesday, April 25, 2012. Federal Reserve policy makers said they expect growth to gradually accelerate, while refraining from new actions to lower borrowing costs.Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Ben Bernanke seems to be just hoping for the best. The Federal Open Market Committee statement on Wednesday talks about a pick-up in growth even as inflation declines from the current run-rate above the Federal Reserve's 2 per cent target. These trends aren't apparent from recent data, and the U.S. central bank needs contingency plans if things don't pan out so conveniently.
The Fed's expectation that growth, though now subdued, will gradually build seems inconsistent with the latest report on U.S. durable goods, which showed orders down 4.2 per cent – and with relatively weak employment data for March. Furthermore, Fed Chairman Bernanke acknowledged the headwind facing the U.S. economy with the expiry of tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 and the start of spending cuts mandated by the debt ceiling deal in Congress last August.
On the inflation side, inflation measured using personal consumption expenditures was 2.3 per cent in the year to February and core PCE inflation, excluding food and energy, was 1.9 per cent. The FOMC's forecast, which ranges upwards to about 2 per cent, appears optimistic particularly as quickening growth would normally lead to an acceleration in inflation.
Energy prices could provide a caveat. If oil gets cheaper in the United States, joining domestic gas whose price has been torpedoed by a glut, the U.S. economy could benefit beyond the energy sector, restoring manufacturing jobs and reducing costs in energy-intensive industries. But encouraging large-scale oil drilling isn't Mr. Bernanke's turf, even if it might help vindicate the Fed's forecast.
That means the Fed needs contingency plans to deal with lower-than-anticipated growth or unexpectedly high inflation. It's notable that 10 out of 17 FOMC participants (not all of whom vote each year on policy) expect the federal funds rate to be 1 per cent or higher by December, 2014 – suggesting that the Fed commitment to keeping rates below 0.25 per cent until then is already fading, in reality if not yet on paper. That's a welcome hint of needed policy flexibility at an uncertain time.