MNI TRANSCRIPT: Powell on Global Growth

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following is the portion of a transcript from

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference after the FOMC meeting

Wednesday:

     Q: Mr. Chairman, in your view, is there any risk to the United States

having much higher interest rates than Europe and Japan and other parts of the

world? Is there any risk to the U.S. economy to that divergence or any risk to

the global economy?

     A: I guess I'd say it this way... it's, global capital markets are highly

integrated and... you know... our rates are, our long rates are definitely being

pulled down by the very, very low rates. That are abroad. And... you know... the

way I'd characterize it is this, low rates abroad are a symbol or a sign of weak

global growth. Expectations of low inflation, global -- low growth, and... you

know... just kind of a lack of policy space to move against or, ideas about how

to break out of that low equilibrium. That's implications for us. You know... we

-- in a world where, where economies and financial markets are, are tightly

integrated, that matters for the U.S. economy. So... that's going to pull down

U.S. rates and... U.S. financial conditions can tighten. Because of that. And

so... I think we put all of that -- all of that goes into our thinking and into

our models. We do understand how to, you know... how the international sector

interfaces with the U.S. economy. We take that into account in setting our

interest rate policy.

--MNI Washington Bureau; +1 202 371 2121; email: brooke.migdon@marketnews.com

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