ben s bernanke : semiannual monetary policy report to the congress testimony by mr ben s bernanke, chairman of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, before the committee on banking, housing, and urban affairs, us senate, washington, dc, 19 july 2006. * * * mr. chairman and members of the committee, i am pleased to be here again to present the federal reserve's monetary policy report to the congress. over the period since our february report, the u. s. economy has continued to expand. real gross domestic product ( gdp ) is estimated to have risen at an annual rate of 5. 6 percent in the first quarter of 2006. the available indicators suggest that economic growth has more recently moderated from that quite strong pace, reflecting a gradual cooling of the housing market and other factors that i will discuss. with respect to the labor market, more than 850, 000 jobs were added, on net, to nonfarm payrolls over the first six months of the year, though these gains came at a slower pace in the second quarter than in the first. last month the unemployment rate stood at 4. 6 percent. inflation has been higher than we had anticipated in february, partly as a result of further sharp increases in the prices of energy and other commodities. during the first five months of the year, overall inflation as measured by the price index for personal consumption expenditures averaged 4. 3 percent at an annual rate. over the same period, core inflation - that is, inflation excluding food and energy prices - averaged 2. 6 percent at an annual rate. to address the risk that inflation pressures might remain elevated, the federal open market committee ( fomc ) continued to firm the stance of monetary policy, raising the federal funds rate another 3 / 4 percentage point, to 5 - 1 / 4 percent, in the period since our last report. let me now review the current economic situation and the outlook in a bit more detail, beginning with developments in the real economy and then turning to the inflation situation. i will conclude with some comments on monetary policy. the u. s. economy appears to be in a period of transition. for the past three years or so, economic growth in the united states has been robust. this growth has reflected both the ongoing reemployment of underutilized resources, as the economy recovered from the weakness of earlier in the decade, and the expansion of the economy's underlying productive potential,

the region. saarcfinance : the journey saarcfinance was established in 1998 as a network of our central bank governors and finance secretaries to facilitate dialogue on macroeconomic policies and the exchange of mutual experiences and ideas. saarcfinance received formal recognition in january 2002 at the 11th saarc summit held in kathmandu, nepal. over the last two decades, cooperation between our central banks has expanded and strengthened. the swap facility, which has been the cornerstone of this cooperation, has played a vital role in helping to manage external sector pressures during the pandemic. india has also extended financial support in the form of a number of credit lines to saarc partners. policy interface, technical assistance, capacity building and knowledge exchange have all played a vital role in deepening this engagement. in particular, research and policy driven collaborative studies, and symposiums and seminars such as this one, have facilitated this whole endeavour by bringing about greater appreciation of the issues, challenges and successes experienced by each country and the region as a whole. to cite some fulfilled deliverables under the belt of saarcfinance, the governors ’ group meetings have formalised our cooperation and dialogue on macroeconomic conditions and policies. the saarcfinance website was developed and launched in 2011. the saarcfinance database went live on may 26, 2016 at the governors'symposium held in mumbai. the first issue of the half - yearly saarcfinance e - newsletter was published in december 2006. during india ’ s chair in 2020 - 21, the portal called ‘ saarcfinance sync ’ was created as a network of connectivity among our central banks. the scope and coverage of the scholarship scheme was expanded by including more universities, more central banking related courses and by increasing both the scholarship amounts and the number of scholarships that may be granted in a year. efforts have also been made to revamp the saarcfinance newsletter with a new design and format and by expanding its ambit to topical articles. our virtual seminars kept alive our engagement through the pandemic. the financial inclusion platform, a repository of initiatives taken by saarc central banks to promote financial inclusion and financial literacy, has also facilitated policy making by enriching it with pan - regional perspectives. the measures we have taken to deepen cooperation on capacity building are also noteworthy, especially the collaborative studies on a variety of topics. macroeconomic developments : opportunities and challenges our countries have come together