he US economy has “recovered substantially” from the Great Recession and is set for further growth and firmer inflation, Janet Yellen said, as she laid the ground for the first rise in official interest rates since 2006. A lift in rates would testify to the progress the US has made in shrugging off the legacy of the crash, the Fed chair said, adding that there were risks in waiting too long to start normalising policy. Dangers from abroad had also diminished since September, when the Fed held fire on rates citing risks from China and financial markets. Alluding to the key test the Fed has set before raising rates, Ms Yellen said her confidence in the inflation outlook had been “bolstered” by recent strength in the jobs market. She added that there had been welcome signs of a pickup in wage growth — a verdict supported later in the central bank’s so-called Beige Book, a round-up of conditions in Fed districts around the country.