NY Fed president: ‘I don’t see the economy getting back to full strength by the end of the year’

New York Federal Reserve President John Williams on Friday said that the economy will likely not be back to full strength until at least December. 

Williams predicted that construction companies would be the first to be back to normal and the rest of the economy will slowly follow suit.

“I expect that to be able to bounce back a little bit more quickly than maybe some of the other sectors,” Williams said on CNBC. “But I don’t see the economy getting back to full strength by the end of the year.”

Williams said other industries will have slower stabilization as people cautiously resume their usual spending habits. 

“Our concerns are that even as the pandemic passes, even as the restrictions are relaxed gradually over time, people may take quite a while before they’re willing to get back on airplanes or trains or go to theaters and concerts, things like that,” he added.

Williams added the economy still hasn’t seen the worst of the pandemic’s potential impact. He said that while he’s confident the economy can jump back, he sees “some tough days ahead” and “horrible” second-quarter economic data. 

“We have not come to any firm conclusions about how long this will last, and we’re acting in every way we can to do the utmost to support the economy, however, this evolves over the next couple months,” he said.