US Fed chief Ben Bernanke named as Time's 2009 Person of the Year

Dec 16, 2009, 14:46 GMT

Washington - US news magazine Time has picked Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank, as its 2009 Person of the Year.

The annual honour goes to a person, or group of persons, picked by the influential magazine as a major mover or shaker of the year coming to a close. In the last two years, Time has picked US President Barack Obama and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for the designation.

Referring to Bernanke as 'the most powerful nerd on the planet,' the magazine said it picked the former professor for his role in providing calm and stability through the ongoing financial crisis with efforts to bail out banks and pump money into the troubled US economy.

'The overriding story of 2009 was the economy the lousiness of it, and the fact that it wasn't far lousier,' wrote Time.

'His creative leadership helped ensure that 2009 was a period of weak recovery rather than catastrophic depression, and he still wields unrivaled power over our money, our jobs, our savings and our national future. The decisions he has made, and those he has yet to make, will shape the path of our prosperity, the direction of our politics and our relationship to the world.'