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The U.S. economy will recover from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the process could stretch until the end of 2021 and depend on the development of a vaccine, said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
"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," the U.S. central bank chief said in an excerpt of an interview conducted Wednesday and aired on Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation" show.
"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.
The pandemic has caused massive job cuts in the U.S., with reports of more than 36 million Americans losing their jobs since February as the economy shattered.
Many companies, especially small businesses, are hurtling toward bankruptcy, while states and cities are confronting gaping budget shortfalls that could provoke a massive second wave of layoffs from the public sector.
While Powell noted that people should never "bet" against the American economy, but he took care not to promise a swift, so-called V-shaped rebound.
"This economy will recover. It may take a while," he said. "It could stretch through the end of next year. We really don't know."
The U.S. is the world's worst-affected country by the COVID-19 pandemic, having registered more than 1.4 million cases and over 89,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
(CGTN)
