Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said a sustained rise in prices for oil and other commodities would threaten the economic recovery, but that even with the turmoil in the Middle East he did not expect higher prices would create inflation problems in the United States.
“The most likely outcome is that the recent rise in commodity prices will lead to, at most, a temporary and relatively modest increase in U.S. consumer price inflation,” Bernanke said in testimony Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee.
That projection is consistent with the views of other members of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee, which sets monetary policy, and most private forecasters, he said.
Still, Bernanke said, rising gas prices are “something we have to pay very close attention to.”
Full story: Ben S. Bernanke sees little effect on U.S. from pricey oil – LA Times