Barack Obama indirectly opens up to a change at the top of the Federal Reserve. In an interview with Charlie Rose of Pbs public television, the president of the United States hinted that the mandate of Ben Bernanke it will not be renewed in January 2014. In the same interview, Obama explained how Bernanke "did an outstanding job" and stayed longer than expected.
The American president's words came on the eve of the meeting of the Fed's monetary committee which concludes tomorrow with the decision on the cost of money and the new estimates on the economy.
Bernanke has been head of the Fed since 2006, appointed by then President George W. Bush and subsequently confirmed by Barack Obama in 2010. So far Bernake has not explicitly expressed preferences about his future, but the fact that he has not signaled a willingness to hire a third mandate has left US observers to believe the possibility of not wanting to be reconfirmed. He recently reinforced these views by saying that he believes he is not "the only one in the world who can manage the exit" from the Fed's extraordinary anti-crisis measures.
The names of the possible successor are already starting to circulate. The favorite to succeed Bernanke is Janet Yellen the vice president of the Fed appointed by Obama in 2010. The 66-year-old economist was formerly governor of the San Francisco Fed and is a supporter of the policy of keeping interest rates at historic lows.
