MNI TRANSCRIPT: Powell on Inclusive 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: Chairman Powell it seems that the differences all across the country

that there are different regions reacting differently to the China trade and

some regions are much weaker than others. Urban versus rural divides coast

versus the middle of the country. How does that factor in to your policy

decisions?

     A: Monetary policy is famously a blunt instrument. So we can't obviously we

can't raise rates some place and lower them other places but we are very

conscious, the first thing to know is understand that, that and we have called

that out as you I am sure know in one of our rechbt monetary policy reports to

Congress sort of rural urban disparities in, you know, in employment, in growth

in all kinds of things and health outcomes. It is a big and growing difference,

set of differences. We don't have the tools to address that but we call things

out that are important to our economy that we may not be -- that we May not have

the right tools to best address them but we call them out because we are

spending all of our time with the economy and those are issues that have to be

addressed by legislature and at the national level and at at state level.

     Q: So are you asking Congress to do something now or will you ask them to

do something down the road?

     A: I'm not asking Congress to do anything right now. I sometimes have noted

that it would be appropriate. Put it this way, we do what we do which is we are

assigned a job which is maximum employment and stable prices. We do financial

stability, we do bank regulation. The U.S. economy faces significant longer term

challenges around potential growth, around labor force participation, around

disparities of income and wealth, around all kinds of things and those are

issues for Congress. They are not issues for us. But if you really want the U.S.

economy to be all it can be, and raise the potential growth rate of the United

States you need proper monetary policy but really it is not monetary policy. It

is fiscal policy that supports inclusive growth.

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

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