WATCH: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Prank-Called By Russians Pretending To Be Zelensky

Jerome Powell, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, had a phone conversation with two Russian pranksters who pretended to be the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and footage of Powell on the call has just surfaced on Twitter.

During the prank that took place in January, Powell admittedly spoke about the U.S. economy’s growth, stating that “growth in 2022 was positive but modest” at around 1%. For 2023, Powell predicted “growth of less than 1%” and warned that a recession is almost as likely as slow growth.

He attributed this partly to the recent rise in rates, which was “necessary” to bring inflation down. Powell acknowledged that this may be a painful process but stated, “we don’t know of any painless way for inflation to come down.” His remarks suggested that the Federal Reserve may continue its current approach of raising rates despite potential economic challenges.

WATCH:

Jerome Powell was pranked by Russians pretending to be President Zelenskyy 😬

In this video chat he says “a recession is almost as likely as very slow growth” for the United States pic.twitter.com/gEsA0DZWRn

— Wall Street Memes (@wallstmemes) April 27, 2023

The latest economic report provided evidence that Jerome Powell’s predictions on the U.S. economy’s growth and the potential for a recession were accurate.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released an estimate that the real GDP increased by 1.1% in the first quarter of 2023, which is a slight decrease from the previous quarter’s 2.6% increase. This growth was mainly driven by consumer spending, exports, and government spending, but was partly offset by decreases in private inventory and residential investment.