Forget all that talk about Janet Yellen stepping down if Donald Trump becomes president: The Fed chair told Congress on Thursday she’s not leaving.
Trump has been critical of the central bank leader and has suggested that he would replace her at some point. He once told CNBC that Yellen should be “ashamed” of her actions, saying her policies were political positions to help President Barack Obama.
Amid expectations that the president-elect would step up political pressure on the Fed after he takes office in January, there was chatter that Yellen might just step aside.
“No I cannot,” she said when asked by Rep. Carolyn Maloney if there were circumstances under which she might leave before her term expires. “I was confirmed by the Senate to a four-year term, which ends at the end of January of 2018, and it is fully my intention to serve out that term.”
If Trump removes her from the chair, she could still stay on as a governor until her 14-year term expires in 2024.
Though she did not address the current political situation directly or even mention Trump’s name, Yellen stressed the need for central bank independence.
She pointed to countries where that is not the case experiencing inflation when central banks are ordered to buy debt to balance budgets.
“Markets come to expect low and stable inflation from a central bank that has political independence and good economic performance and I believe that we have seen that both in the United States and globally,” she said.
source”cnbc”
