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RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil is preparing a fresh round of emergency cash transfers to millions of poor and vulnerable people, President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday, adding that any package will also take into account investor concerns over the government’s fragile finances.
FILE PHOTO: Brazil s President Jair Bolsonaro talks with journalists after a meeting with Economy Minister Paulo Guedes in Brasilia, Brazil January 27, 2021. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
Bolsonaro’s remarks came after a government source involved in the negotiations told Reuters that the program would be smaller than last year’s, which expired on Dec. 31, and would come with more strings attached.
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FILE PHOTO: Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester speaks in London, Britain, July 2, 2019. REUTERS/Marc Jones
(Reuters) - U.S. monetary policy will stay accommodative for a “very long time” because the economy is far from the Federal Reserve’s goals for maximum employment and price stability, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Monday.
“We’re going to be accommodative for a very long time because the economy just needs it to get back on its feet,” Mester said during a virtual discussion organized by the Toledo Rotary Club.
The policymaker repeated her view that economic activity could pick up in the second half of the year after most Americans have been vaccinated. But until then, fiscal aid that speeds up vaccine distribution and supports workers who are unemployed or underemployed could help stabilize the economy, Mester said.
Austrian unemployment rose in November as a coronavirus lockdown kicked in in the second half of the month, Labour Minister Christine Aschbacher said on Tuesday, with hospitality jobs especially hard hit.
Major U.S. stock indexes registered all-time closing highs on Monday amid optimism over U.S. fiscal stimulus, and bitcoin jumped after Tesla revealed it had purchased $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency and would soon accept it as a form of payment.