Economic recovery may stretch till the end of 2021: US Fed Chief Powell

The US economy will recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, but the process could stretch through until the end of 2021, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has said.

"Assuming there's not a second wave of the coronavirus, I think you'll see the economy recover steadily through the second half of this year," Powell said in an excerpt of an interview that aired Sunday morning on CBS's "Face the Nation."

"For the economy to fully recover, people will have to be fully confident. And that may have to await the



arrival of a vaccine," he said, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Fed chief noted that people should not "bet" against the American economy in the long run, even in the medium run.

"This economy will recover. It may take a while. It may take a period of time. It could stretch through the end of next year. We really don't know," he said.

"The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent, significantly worse than any recession since World War II," said the Fed chief.