Eric Rosengren said Fed ‘has acted quickly’ as markets froze
Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank.
Jill Harding | CNBC
Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren said the central bank moved rapidly to address deterioration across multiple parts of the financial market that were crippled due to the coronavirus crisis.
“At the central bank we’re focused on addressing, and blunting, the economic effects of the pandemic,” Rosengren said in remarks prepared for an online forum with the Boston Chamber of Commerce. “The Federal Reserve has acted quickly to address spillovers from the economic disruption.”
Nevertheless, Rosengren said the coronavirus will continue to hit the economy, particularly employment.
The Fed has taken a bevy of measures unprecedented even considering the intervention it took during the financial crisis. Among the moves have been taking benchmark short-term interest rates to near zero, a new round of unlimited asset purchases, and multiple programs aimed at keeping financial markets moving and getting money to businesses and individuals in need.
One such small business lending initiative is under the direct auspices of the Boston Fed.
Rosengren noted that “it was proving a challenge for the funds to sell high‐quality debt of even the strongest companies and states. The Boston Fed opened a facility that lends money to banks, so they can buy these highly‐rated assets from money market funds.”
Economic activity has sputtered as public health officials instituted social distancing practices to help slow the coronavirus spread.
While providing an important public service, the practice also is “distorting the credit and liquidity flows that underpin our economy, threatening the greater pain of a full‐blown financial crisis,” Rosengren said.
Like other Fed officials, he predicted that the economy would continue to suffer as the efforts to contain the virus continue.
“We must continue to adapt as the crisis proceeds, with constant attention to the plight of workers who have been or will be laid off. Unfortunately, we expect the unemployment rate to rise dramatically,” he said.