U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday said the economy is slowing and faces “growing challenges,” but she said it’s still healthy by many measures just hours after the government reported that gross domestic product shrank for the second quarter in a row. Yellen said some slowdown in the economy is needed to help combat the highest inflation in almost 41 years. “We need to see a slowdown in growth. We are seeing that,” she said. Yellen also contended that a new spending package by the Biden administration would help reduce inflation in the long run, but when asked just how much, she told reporters “I don’t have numerical estimates for you.”

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