Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said the state is in good financial shape to weather any possible economic slowdown caused by the interest rate increases predicted on Friday by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Lamont said his administration has already planned for a slowdown of the economy, “which is why I have been very cautious to make sure that we have a rainy-day fund."
"We don’t have to increase anybody’s taxes or cut education if we do have a slowdown,” he added.
Lamont is also not worried about a loss of jobs, “You know why? I have a 100,000 jobs that I can’t fill right now,” Lamont said. “If we fill those jobs we’d have 0% unemployment. So the issue is, I've got to train people for the jobs that are out there."
Connecticut has more than $3.3 billion in its rainy-day fund — the highest in state history.
The fund was mandated by the legislature in response to the state’s slow recovery from the Great Recession.
