Xinhua News Agency, Washington, May 27. The National Economic Survey of the United States Federal Reserve released on the 27th that the new crown epidemic caused a “chaos” in the US economy. The economic activity in most jurisdictions declined sharply, and overall economic activity also Decline, employment continues to decrease.
The Fed ’s report is based on the latest findings of 12 regional reserve banks, also known as the “Beige Book”. The report shows that compared with when the last “Beige Book” was released in April, economic activity in all jurisdictions declined, and economic activity in most jurisdictions declined sharply. As shopping malls and other retail establishments continue to be forced to close, consumer spending has further decreased. Due to the high degree of uncertainty in the economic outlook, most companies are pessimistic about the potential speed of economic recovery.
In terms of industry, the sharp decline in tourism and travel has led to a particularly severe recession in the leisure and hotel industry, and car sales are also lower than a year ago. Manufacturing activities in most jurisdictions have declined sharply, and production in automotive, aviation and energy-related companies has been significantly weakened. Partly due to the reduction in the number of newly listed homes and restrictions on housing sales in most jurisdictions, residential sales fell sharply.
In terms of employment, due to the maintenance of social distance and the “home order” and other measures led to the closure of a large number of enterprises, employment in all jurisdictions continued to decrease, and employment in most jurisdictions was severely damaged. Among them, the employment in the retail, leisure and hotel industries further declined significantly.
In addition, the overall price tends to stabilize but declines slightly. Weak demand has depressed sales prices, prices of clothing, hotel rooms and air tickets have fallen, and prices of oil, steel and some agricultural products have declined in some jurisdictions. At the same time, interruptions in the supply chain and strong demand have led to increases in food prices such as meat and fresh fruit.
The Fed releases the “Beige Book” 8 times a year, through the regional reserve bank to understand the national economic situation. The report is an important reference for the Federal Reserve ’s regular monetary policy meeting. The next regular Fed monetary policy meeting will be held from June 9 to 10.
(Originally titled “The Fed’s” Beige Book “shows that the epidemic has caused a” chaos “in the US economy”)