US Fed holds key short-term interest rate at 45-year low

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 29, 2003

US Fed holds key short-term interest rate at 45-year low

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) decided Tuesday to keep the short-term interest rate unchanged at its lowest level in 45 years.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) decided Tuesday to keep the short-term interest rate unchanged at its lowest level in 45 years.

The Fed made the decision after its policy-making body, the Federal Open Market Committee, held a close-door meeting on current economic conditions in the country.

"The Committee continues to believe that an accommodative stance of monetary policy, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing important ongoing support to economic activity," the US Fed said in a statement.

It said that "the evidence accumulated over the intermeeting period confirms that spending is firming, and the labor market appears to be stabilizing. Business pricing power and increases incore consumer prices remain muted."

"The Committee perceives that the upside and downside risks to the attainment of sustainable growth for the next few quarters areroughly equal," the statement said.

The US Fed almost repeated the words used in the statements released after the past several meetings. It said that the probability "of an unwelcome fall in inflation exceeds that of a rise in inflation from its already low level" and "the risk of inflation becoming undesirably low remains the predominant concernfor the foreseeable future."

The Fed stressed that "In these circumstances, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be maintained for a considerable period."

The US Fed last cut its federal funds rate by one-quarter percentage point on June 25, the thirteenth reduction since January 2001, in a bid to spur economic growth. And it has kept the rate stable at 1 percent since then, the lowest point since 1958.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Greenspan Says Uncertainty over War Harms US Economic Growth

Greenspan Worries about Slow US Economic Growth

US manufacturers' wish to complain to WTO about RMB: a good thing for China ( 4 Messages)

548 billion yuan invested in China's education last year ( 4 Messages)

President Hu talks about Taiwan, SARS, RMB ( 6 Messages)

How far we are away from a space power? ( 6 Messages)

India's after joint military maneuver with China ( 13 Messages)