The United States is not likely to fall right into a recession as hobby fees upward thrust to fight hovering inflation, the American treasury secretary said Wednesday, while warning of the dangers for Europe following the invasion of Ukraine.

“I honestly don’t count on the USA to fall right into a recession,” Janet Yellen stated at a press convention ahead of a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Germany.

Europe is “more vulnerable and of course, more exposed on the energy front” as prices rise following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she said.

The continent is highly reliant on Russian energy imports for its energy needs, with any disruption to supplies of oil and natural gas threatening stoppages for the industry.

The surge in energy prices drove inflation in the eurozone to 7.5 percent in April, an all-time high for the currency club and well above the central bank’s two-percent target.

The rise has been even steeper in the US, with consumer prices at an 8.3-percent rate in April despite greater energy independence.

The Fed has responded to the soaring inflation by dialing up a series of interest rate hikes to try to get price rises under control.

At its last policy meeting at the beginning of May, the central bank announced an unusually large 50-basis-points increase in rates.

But the swiftness of hikes has multiplied fears of a difficult landing as interest fee rises put the brakes on the financial system, pushing it right into a recession, described as consecutive quarters of bad growth.

The Fed Chair Jerome Powell has sought to appease such fears, saying the United States is “a strong company”.

“Nothing about it suggests that it’s close to or vulnerable to a recession,” he told reporters after the Fed’s last meeting.