2012.05.09 18:00:05 Fed's Plosser: 'Growth Is Not Robust'

By Michael S. Derby Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--A key Federal Reserve official heralded on Wednesday the U.S. economy's ability to grow in the face of significant challenges. "The economy has now grown for 11 consecutive quarters," Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said in the text of a speech to be delivered before a hometown event called Reinventing Older Communities: Building Resilient Cities. "Growth is not robust," Plosser said, but he added "growth in the past year has continued despite significant risks and external and internal headwinds." The official's comments on national economic conditions were brief, and he did not address the monetary policy outlook in his prepared remarks. He was not scheduled to take questions from the audience. Most of his remarks were devoted to understanding what makes a given community a resilient economic entity, and he said his bank was in the early stages of studying the issue in a formal way. While the effort is just starting, Plosser noted "early results suggest that industrial diversity is related to greater resilience." -By Michael S. Derby; Dow Jones Newswires, 212-416-2214; michael.derby@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 09, 2012 12:00 ET (16:00 GMT)