 "Obama narrows down on next Fed chief")
US President Barack Obama said his nominee for Federal Reserve chairman will be someone who embraces the central bank's dual mandate to promote price stability and maximum employment, and he has narrowed his choice "to some extraordinarily qualified candidates".
"You can anticipate that over the next several months, an announcement will be made," Obama said in an interview with The New York Times on July 24, according to a transcript published on Sunday on the newspaper's website. Obama said he hasn't made a final decision.
Obama isn't expected to nominate a successor to the current chairman, Ben S Bernanke, until at least September, an administration official said on Saturday.
Treasury Secretary Jacob J Lew said Summers and Yellen are "both extraordinarily talented people" and that he has "great admiration for both of them," while declining to comment on whether Obama may nominate either of them to lead the Fed.
"We will keep those discussions to the privacy of the Oval Office," Lew said on CNN's State of the Union in an interview aired on Sunday.
In the interview at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, Obama said he wants a chairman who understands the Fed's dual mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability.
"And when unemployment is still too high, and long-term unemployment is still too high, and there's still weak demand in a lot of industries, I want a Fed chairman that can step back and look at that objectively and say, let's make sure that we're growing the economy, but let's also keep an eye on inflation," Obama said.
"You can anticipate that over the next several months, an announcement will be made," Obama said in an interview with The New York Times on July 24, according to a transcript published on Sunday on the newspaper's website. Obama said he hasn't made a final decision.
Obama isn't expected to nominate a successor to the current chairman, Ben S Bernanke, until at least September, an administration official said on Saturday.
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Bernanke, whose second four-year term ends on January 31, hasn't indicated whether he would seek or accept a third term. Last month, Obama said the Fed chairman has stayed in the post "longer than he wanted". Obama declined to say who the finalists are, amid speculation that former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Fed Vice-Chairman Janet Yellen are leading candidates.
Treasury Secretary Jacob J Lew said Summers and Yellen are "both extraordinarily talented people" and that he has "great admiration for both of them," while declining to comment on whether Obama may nominate either of them to lead the Fed.
"We will keep those discussions to the privacy of the Oval Office," Lew said on CNN's State of the Union in an interview aired on Sunday.
In the interview at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, Obama said he wants a chairman who understands the Fed's dual mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability.
"And when unemployment is still too high, and long-term unemployment is still too high, and there's still weak demand in a lot of industries, I want a Fed chairman that can step back and look at that objectively and say, let's make sure that we're growing the economy, but let's also keep an eye on inflation," Obama said.