US Federal Reserve: Coronavirus poses a threat to global economic growth

The potential impacts of the spread of the Coronavirus, which has killed 170 people in China so far, took center stage at the press conference of US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday after the Fed's decision to fix interest rates.

"The Chinese economy is very important in the global economy now, and when the Chinese economy slows down, we feel it is not the same as it is with countries near China or which are trading more actively with China," Powell stressed.

Powell told reporters that the Fed "is watching the situation very carefully" and indicated that it is too early to say how much this will affect the United States, but it will have some effects on the Chinese economy at least in the short term.