Powell Says Fed Credibility Lost If President Can Fire Officials

Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank would lose the credibility that’s required to support a strong and stable economy if any president were free to dismiss Fed officials over policy disagreements.

“If any administration finds a way to remove Fed officials over policy differences, then future administrations will do so as well,” Powell said in the text of remarks prepared for delivery Sunday in accepting the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston.

In such a scenario, the public would lose faith that the Fed would make decisions ...