Janet Yellen has been confirmed as the first ever female US treasury secretary in a Senate vote.

Ms Yellen, who headed the US central bank from 2014 to 2018, earlier won bipartisan support from members of the Senate Finance Committee.

She will be responsible for guiding the Biden administration’s economic response to the pandemic.

The US is struggling to rebound economically from the hit caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

At her confirmation hearing on 19 January, Ms Yellen urged Congress to approve trillions more in pandemic relief and economic stimulus, saying that lawmakers should “act big” without worrying about national debt.

In response, Republican senators warned the former Federal Reserve head this was not the time for “a laundry list” of liberal reforms.

Ms Yellen disagreed, highlighting the fact that many families whose incomes have fallen were not reached by jobless programmes. She argued that plans to raise taxes must be seen in the context of financing bigger investments necessary to make the US economy competitive.

“The focus now is not on tax increases. It is on programmes to help us get through the pandemic,” she stressed.