Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the U.S. central bank will act as needed to aid financial stability and economic growth after restarting emergency currency-swaps to help contain Europe�s debt crisis.

�Our ongoing international cooperation sends an important signal to global financial markets that we will take the actions necessary to ensure stability and continued economic recovery,� Bernanke said today in testimony to a House Budget Committee hearing.

The impact of the crisis on U.S. growth is �likely to be modest� if financial markets �continue to stabilize,� he said. He reiterated that the U.S. recovery is being restrained by the housing and commercial real-estate markets and repeated his call for lawmakers to come up with a long-term deficit- reduction plan.

Bernanke and most of his fellow policy makers have given little indication they will soon back off from the central bank�s pledge to keep interest rates at a record low for an �extended period,� given high unemployment and low inflation. Two days ago, Bernanke said that while the Fed will raise rates before the economy reaches �full employment,� growth isn�t fast enough to reduce joblessness quickly.

While recent use of the swap lines that restarted in May is �quite limited,� the program is �nevertheless providing an important backstop for the functioning of dollar funding markets,� said Bernanke, 56, a former Princeton University economist who began his second four-year term in February.

(Read More: Bloomberg News)