WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen were set to discuss the long-term outlook for the U.S. economy and the outlook for the global economy during an Oval Office meeting on Monday afternoon, Obama's spokesman said.
It is the first one-on-one meeting between Obama and Yellen since she took the helm of the central bank, which sets the nation's monetary policy but operates independently from the White House.
"Their discussion will focus on the long-term outlook for the American economy," said spokesman Josh Earnest.
Obama leaves this weekend for Asia, a trip that will include a meeting of the G20 group of economies.
"So the president having this conversation with the chair of the Fed makes sense in advance of that meeting," Earnest said.
He said he did not know whether Obama planned to discuss two vacancies on the Fed's seven-member Board of Governors with Yellen. He also said he had no update on when Obama would move to fill the positions.
(Reporting By Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Dan Grebler)
