<p><span>Thank you, Professor Wieland, for the introduction, and thank you to the Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability for the opportunity to speak to you today.</span><a title="footnote 1" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/waller20220530a.htm#fn1"><span>1</span></a><a name="f1"></a><span> I come here at a moment of great challenge for Germany and Europe, and a moment in which it has never been more evident that the interests of Europe and the United States are closely aligned. America stands with Europe in defending Ukraine because we all understand that an assault on democracy in Europe is a threat to democracy everywhere. We also face the common challenge of excessive inflation, which is no coincidence, since Germany and other countries are dealing with many of the same forces driving up inflation in the United States.</span></p>
<p><span>Thank you, Mike, for the introduction. It is a privilege for me to address fellow macroeconomic forecasters, and I thought an appropriate subject would be the challenge of forecasting during the pandemic. </span><span>First, a few remarks about my outlook. Then I will discuss some lessons learned from the pandemic—lessons about the economy s response to this unprecedented event relative to what forecasters, including myself, first thought.</span></p>
<p><span>The COVID-19 pandemic and the mitigation efforts put in place to contain it delivered the most severe blow to the U.S. and global economies since the Great Depression.</span><a title="footnote 1" href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/clarida20211130a.htm#fn1"><span>1</span></a><a name="f1"></a><span> Gross domestic product (GDP) collapsed at a nearly 33 percent annual rate in the second quarter of 2020. More than 22 million jobs were lost in just the first two months of the crisis, and the unemployment rate rose from a 50-year low of 3.5 percent in February to a postwar peak of almost 15 percent in April 2020. A precipitous decline in aggregate demand pummeled the consumer price level. The resulting disruptions to economic activity significantly tightened financial conditions and impaired the flow of credit to U.S. households and businesses.</span></p>
Opening remarks by Mr Jerome H Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, at the Gender and the Economy Conference, a symposium hosted by the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C., (via webcast), 8 November 2021.
<p><span>Good morning. I appreciate the opportunity to be part of this symposium on "Banking on the Future," especially since the future of banking is one of the highest priorities in my work at the Board. Today, I will focus my remarks on the importance of community banks to our financial system and the challenges they face. In particular, I will focus on the formation of new banks and pose two key questions concerning the recent scarcity of these "de novo" banks.</span></p>