Bernanke Sees Higher Economic Growth This Year

Washington, DC, June 8, 2011 -- Although the economy has weakened in recent weeks, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the slowdown from high gas prices and Japan's crises is temporary, and growth should pick up later this year.

Bernanke did not say whether or not the Fed might take new steps to boost the economy. The Fed's $600 billion Treasury bond-buying program is ending this month.

Bernanke said the economy still needs the benefit of low interest rates. The Fed is scheduled to meet in two weeks and is all but certain to keep those rates at record lows.

"The economic recovery appears to be continuing at a moderate pace, albeit at a rate that is both uneven across sectors and frustratingly slow from the perspective of millions of unemployed and underemployed workers," he said at a banking conference in Atlanta.

Bernanke said the central bank would not consider the recovery well-established "until we see a sustained period of stronger job creation."