Ben Bernanke Remains Fed Chief

On Tuesday President Barack Obama will appoint Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, to continue efforts to combat the crisis that grounded the world’s biggest economy.

Obama will stop his vacation and will announce the appointment at around 13:00 GMT (9:00 local time), official sources from White House said Monday.

“Ben approached with wisdom and calm a financial system that was on the brink, with bold action and innovative thinking that have helped efforts to break the free fall of the economy”, says a preview of the speech published by Reuters.

“Legacy” Bernanke’s first term included lowering key interest rates to near zero and flooding the financial markets with hundreds of billions of dollars to combat the credit crisis.

By giving Mr. Bernanke a second term, Obama signals that he has confidence in the Fed chairman’s ability to strengthen the economy in a period when unemployment and bankruptcies are increasing rapidly, notes Reuters.