Jay Powell has warned that a full US economic recovery may take until the end of 2021. “For the economy to fully recover, people will have to be fully confident. And that may have to await the arrival of a vaccine,” and added: “Assuming there is not a second wave of the coronavirus, I think you will see the economy recover steadily through the second half of this year.”

President of U.S. Donald Trump has repeatedly called for the next stimulus to include a cut to payroll taxes — deductions for entitlements such as social security and Medicare. Last week, Larry Kudlow, the top White House economic adviser, suggested that lower corporate taxes and looser business regulation should be part of any future relief package. His administration has taken a more bullish stance on the US economic recovery than Mr Powell.

Jerome Powell told for CBS that it was a “reasonable expectation that there will be growth in the second half of the year” but “we won’t get back to where we were by the end of the year.”