Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, on Wednesday said stable labour costs and longer-term inflation expectations in the US meant the rise in global commodity prices would only lead to temporary inflationary pressures.

At the US House of Representatives financial services committee, Bernanke said: "The cost pressures from higher commodity prices are… being offset by the stability in unit labour costs. Thus, the most likely outcome is that the recent rise in commodity prices will