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WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Board Governor Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that the drop in the dollar's value on foreign exchange markets would help cut the U.S. trade deficit, and was not sparking higher prices.
"The dollar has come down and I think that will pass through over time to a strengthening of our export markets and will help us recover some of this trade deficit that we have been facing," he told the South Carolina Association of Investment Professionals Economic Forecasting luncheon in Columbia, South Carolina.
"So it is important in that respect... Again, I think that its direct impact on inflation is going to be modest," he said.
The dollar has lost around nine percent on a trade weighted basis since last September. European exporters complain that this is hurting their business and want the Group of Seven club of rich nations, meeting Friday and Saturday in Florida, to do something about it.