WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Yellen also underscored that greater scope for fiscal policy might be needed in the future to address the US economic weakness.
"We have limited scope for responding [to economic weakness]," Yellen stated in a speech at Harvard University in Boston.
The Federal Reserve Chair explained that current tools to stimulate the US economy include purchases of longer-term assets and provision of forward guidance, which serve to assure the public about intended monetary policies.
Yellen noted that the Federal Reserve considered negative interest rates as a tool, employed by other economies, but only briefly.
"We were concerned at the time that there could be a number of negative repercussions… to lowering to zero or negative territory," she added.
