Lorie K Logan: Federal Reserve Asset Purchases - the pandemic response and considerations ahead

Remarks (via videoconference) by Ms Lorie K Logan, Executive Vice President in the Markets Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the New York University's Stern School of Business, 2 March 2022.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

As prepared for delivery

Thanks very much for that kind introduction.  I would like to thank Dick Berner and Venky Venkateswaran for organizing this event. As Dick would likely recall, I was supposed to give a talk about implementing policy here at NYU Stern two years ago, almost to the day. We had to cancel that speech as it became clear that the emerging pandemic and the efforts to contain it would disrupt the global economy and lead to unprecedented strains in financial markets. Today, the world faces an extraordinary new challenge.  I would like to acknowledge the tragic events in Ukraine and the terrible hardship this places on the Ukrainian people. The economic and financial impact of these events will take time to become clear.  On the Desk, we are monitoring global developments carefully.

My remarks today will begin by looking back at the pandemic crisis and the historic policy response.  Starting in March 2020, the Federal Reserve took a set of extraordinary measures in response to the extreme economic stresses and dislocations in the global financial system that were triggered by the pandemic.  These actions-many taken in close coordination with the U.S. Treasury, and alongside a forceful fiscal response from the U.S. government-were successful in providing accommodation to the U.S. economy during a very vulnerable and uncertain period.