WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary on Monday dismissed the idea of minting a platinum coin as a way to avoid a U.S. default, saying the only workable solution was for Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling. Asked in a National Public Radio interview about the possibility of minting a $1 trillion platinum coin to circumvent the debt ceiling, Adeyemo said "creative, inventive" ideas have been floated in the past but are not workable. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also has rejected the idea of a platinum coin to skirt the debt ceiling and fund government expenses. The debt ceiling standoff was already having an impact on the U.S. economy, Adeyemo said, hurting the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment surveys "because the American people are starting to worry about whether the government is going to pay the bills." He repeated a Moody's Analytics estimate that a default would cost the U.S. around 8 million jobs and lead to recession.

---