Stanley Fischer, a former head of Israel's central bank, will testify that the economy has made "significant progress" since the recession but the central bank's stimulus policies are still needed, according to his prepared testimony.
Fischer, 70, is among three nominees for the Fed's Board of Governors who will testify before the Senate banking committee at the hearing, which starts at 10 a.m.
He will say that the 6.7% unemployment is still too high and inflation remains below the Fed's 2% target, his written testimony says.
"At present, achievement of both maximum employment and price stability requires the continuation of an expansionary monetary policy," Fischer's testimony says.
That's consistent with the views of Janet Yellen, who became Fed chair last month after Ben Bernanke stepped down.
The Fed recently reduced its monthly bond purchases to $65 billion from $85 billion and has said it will continue to gradually taper the program and end it later this year, assuming the economy and labor market continue to advance. The purchases are intended to hold down interest rates and spur growth.
Fischer endorsed the tapering as well as provisions in the Dodd-Frank financial reform act that require the biggest banks to hold more capital and devise plans to wind themselves down in a financial crisis. Critics such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., say the rules don't go far enough in assuring markets that the government won't bail out the big banks, as it did during the 2008 crisis.
In Israel, Fischer was among the world's first central bankers to cut interest rates in the early days of the global turmoil and the first to raise them as that country's economy stabilized. He also was a top official at the World Bank and the International Mo! netary Fund.
The other Fed nominees who will testify Thursday are former Treasury under secretary Lael Brainard and current Fed Governor Jerome Powell.
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