The US national debt is unsustainable said the president of

The US national debt is “unsustainable,” said the president of the central bank

The United States' national debt is “unsustainable” in the long term and it is “high time” to fix it, said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Sunday in a long interview on CBS.

“Long term, the United States is on an unsustainable fiscal path. “The American federal government is on an unsustainable fiscal path,” Mr. Powell stressed, backing up his remarks with the observation that “the debt is growing faster than the economy.”

“I think we're starting to hear from (elected officials) who can ensure” the United States returns to a “sustainable” debt position and “the sooner the better.”

“It’s time we looked at this again,” he added. “We can say it is urgent,” he pleaded.

As for the United States' place in the world, Mr. Powell considered its interaction with other nations “extremely beneficial to our country.”

“Since World War II, the United States has been an indispensable nation in supporting and defending democracy, security agreements, and economic agreements. (…) It is clear that the world wants this,” he noted. “It greatly benefits our economy to play this role.”

At its monetary policy committee (FOMC) meeting this week, the Fed kept interest rates on hold and indicated that it was waiting for greater confidence in the sustained decline in inflation before initiating monetary easing.

This position was reiterated on CBS, with Mr Powell again saying it was unlikely that a reduction would be decided at the next meeting in March.

“It doesn’t have to be better than what we saw, or even as good. “It just has to be good,” he said of the necessary conditions and weighed “the risk of acting too early against the risk of acting too late.”

“The moment is approaching (…), based on our forecasts,” he wanted to reassure.

According to him, the inflation rate should continue to fall in the first half of the year and the Fed should again position itself on the interest rate target at the March meeting. At the end of the December session it was 4.6%.

“The economy is strong. The job market is strong. Inflation is falling. There is no reason why this cannot continue,” he noted. “I really think the economy is doing well.”