DHAKA: Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said a UK vote to leave the European Union could have ‘significant economic repercussions’.

In a speech on Monday, she said a Brexit was one factor that the central bank would consider when deciding whether to raise interest rates.

The Fed next meets on 14-15 June.

Yellen said ‘positive economic forces have outweighed the negative’ - her strongest indication yet that the Fed will raise rates this summer.

‘If incoming data are consistent with labor market conditions strengthening and inflation making progress toward our 2% objective, as I expect, further gradual increases in the federal funds rate are likely to be appropriate,’ she said, reports the BBC.

The Fed raised interest rates by 0.25 percentage points for the first time in nine years last December and has left them unchanged since.

It had been widely expected to raise interest rates over the summer, but poor job creation figures for May diminished those expectations.

The US labor market added just 38,000 jobs last month - the fewest since September 2010.

Yellen said the May job data was disappointing, but that it was outweighed by mostly positive trends.

‘I see good reasons to expect that the positive forces supporting employment growth and higher inflation will continue to outweigh the negative ones. As a result, I expect the economic expansion to continue, with the labor market improving further and GDP growing moderately,’ she said.

BDST: 1230 HRS, JUN 07, 2016
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