The president of the New York branch of the U.S. central bank (Fed), William Dudley, said Friday he expected a "higher growth" in the second half, after being disappointed by that of the first.
At a national level, "some of the weakness of economic activity in the first half was due to temporary factors," Dudley said in the introduction of apress conference in New York, published on internet.
He recalled "the blow inflicted on the purchasing power of households by rising food prices and energy, and disruption of the supply chain" in the industry after the earthquake in Japan in March .
"These forces that have slowed the economy declined and therefore we should see stronger growth in the second half," he said.
"But it is clear that the weakness is not explained by these factors. Andthus, I lowered my expectations about the pace of recovery," Dudley said, without giving figures.
He noted that in the financial market conditions remained "unstable" to "the stock market in particular," and the very low interest rate marketsshould "provide some additional support to economic activity."
The growth of the United States fell below 1% annual rate in the first half.This rate was well below the expectations of the Fed, the latest forecast in late June, was a growth between 2.7% and 2.9% by year end.
