Global central bankers defend Fed's Powell after Trump threat

FRANKFURT, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The chiefs of many of the ​world's major central banks ‌issued a joint statement in support of ‌Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday after the Trump administration threatened him with a ⁠criminal indictment.

"We stand ‌in full solidarity with the Federal Reserve System ‍and its Chair Jerome H. Powell," the heads of the European Central ​Bank, the Bank of England ‌and nine other institutions said.

"The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the ⁠interest of the citizens ​that we serve," ​they added.

The U.S. administration's criminal probe is formally about ‍the renovation ⁠of the Fed's headquarters but Powell called it a "pretext" ⁠to win presidential influence over interest rates.

(Reporting ‌by Francesco Canepa; Editing ‌by Andrew Heavens)