Former US Fed chairman spoke to the BBC last night

  • western politicians expected too much of central banks over the past few years

In an interview with the BBC's Robert Peston he says that the administrations of the US, UK and Eurozone over-did austerity, with the consequence that the Fed, Bank of England and European Central Bank were forced to engage in extreme monetary stimulus - cuts in interest rates to almost zero and massive money creation through quantitative easing

"I think politicians have been too focussed on near-term budget cuts in all of these major countries [the US, UK and Europe]".

"Way too much of the burden [of engineering recovery] has been placed on central banks... The central banks are trying to use the tools they have to accomplish their objectives.

"If you had a more balanced monetary/fiscal mix - and I am talking here about the US, as well as Europe and the UK - the central banks could do less."

The BBC carries the full interview video here

Bernanke - Govts have expected too much of CBs