U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew predicted Monday that the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union would not trigger a financial crisis.
While Lew acknowledged that the Brexit vote was an economic economic headwind for the U.S. and abroad, he expressed confidence that world leaders could "manage through" impending challenges.
"There is no sense of a financial crisis developing," Lew said during an interview with CNBC. "Obviously this is a change in policy that has implications which change the decisions investors make so I’m not saying there’s not an impact in the markets."
He said the jolt to global markets was "orderly" and that the U.S. economy was absorbing the impact "pretty well."
The pound continued to waver against the American dollar Monday after silver plunged to a 31-year low last week in the wake of Britain’s decision Friday to sever its membership with the EU. The U.S. market was also hit at the start of the week with major stocks sharply declining again.
Contributing to Monday’s financial uncertainty, ratings agency Standard & Poor dropped the U.K.’s perfect "AAA" credit rating down to "AA."
Lew said a vote to remain in the EU would have been better for U.K. and European economies, but advised people not to "overreact to a volatile day here and there."
"There are the tools in place for policymakers to manage this," he said.