Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday the U.S. economy has been resilient in the face of credit market strains but it faces risks on both the growth and inflation fronts.

Financial market volatility and strains have persisted, Bernanke said in testimony prepared for delivery to the congressional Joint Economic Committee. In addition, further sharp increases in crude oil prices have put renewed upward pressure on inflation and may impose further restraint on economic activity.

Bernanke said that when Fed policy-makers met on October 30-31, they saw both downside risks to economic growth and important upside risks to inflation, citing oil and other commodity price increases and a drop in the dollar's value.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Neil Stempleman)

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