Janet Yellen: Covid stimulus may have contributed ‘a little bit’ to inflation

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday that the stimulus spending signed into law by President Joe Biden to aid the U.S. recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic may have contributed “a little bit” to the country’s subsequent inflation woes.

But the widespread rise in prices that marred the Democrat’s administration was mostly “a supply-side phenomenon” caused by the pandemic itself, Yellen told CNBC’s “Money Movers” in an exit interview before leaving her role.

There were “simply huge supply chain problems,” she said, adding that shortages of critical goods “started pushing up prices a great deal.”

Yellen, 78, who led the Treasury throughout Biden’s four-year term, is set to be replaced by Scott Bessent, the hedge fund executive picked by President-elect Donald Trump.

Yellen said Bessent’s extensive market experience is “a very helpful background” for a candidate seeking to take charge of the agency responsible for managing the nation’s financial security.

“I’m pleased to see somebody with experience who will be will be taking over, presumably, if confirmed by the Senate,” Yellen said.

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