Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will spend the second half of Monday right here in Providence as a guest of RIPEC, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council.

Bernanke will take questions at a town hall made up of students at 3 p.m., followed by a 6:30 p.m. speech at RIPEC’s annual dinner. Both events will take place at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Bernanke was invited by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who knows the Fed chief well thanks to his service on the Senate Banking Committee amid the financial crisis.

Considering that all of Bernanke’s speeches are parsed for the slightest sign of the central bank’s future intentions, both events (and particularly the speech) are likely to be closely watched far from Rhode Island.

I’m planning to attend both, and will be curious to hear whether Bernanke addresses growing concerns that the recovery is slowing down and the Fed is failing to take steps to boost demand. I’m also wondering what (if anything) he’ll say specifically about Rhode Island’s situation, considering our unemployment rate is the nation’s fourth-highest, and has been among the worst since 2008.

The visit comes one month before the next meeting of the Fed’s Open Market Committee, the panel that guides the nation’s interest rates.

(image credit: Wikipedia)