經濟增速減慢美聯儲保持低利率不變大綱
The U.S. central bank says economic growth slowed over the past few months as unusually bad winter weather and slack exports took a toll.
In a policy statement, the Fed said that top Federal Reserve officials have voted to keep the key interest rate steady at the record low level where it has been since the financial crisis in 2008.
Fed officials wrote that keeping the interest rate low will help the economy resume "moderate" growth. They said officials will watch for further improvements in the job market and slightly higher inflation before they raise rates.
During the recession, the Fed cut interest rates nearly to zero in hopes of bolstering recovery. When record low interest rates failed to spark economic growth, the Fed developed tools that had never been used before in the U.S. economy by implementing several massive bond-buying programs to push rates down.
Eight years after the financial crisis, unemployment has fallen from a recession high of 10 percent in 2009 to 5.5 percent now. The stock market recovered its losses and has been hitting new record highs.
Inflation remains below the 2 percent rate that Fed experts say would be healthy for the economy.美國聯邦儲備委員會表示，由於冬季氣候異常寒冷以及出口放緩，美國經濟的增長速度在過去幾個月裏減慢。
美聯儲在政策聲明中說，美聯儲高級官員們投票決定，關鍵利率保持現有水平不變。自從2008年財政危機以來，美國利率一直保持在從未有過的低水平。
美聯儲官員在聲明中寫道，保持低利率有助於經濟恢復“溫和”增長。一旦就業市場進一步改善，通脹率稍有攀升，美聯儲將會提高利率。
在經濟衰退期間，美聯儲把利率削減到幾乎爲零，以期促進經濟的復甦。當歷史性低利率未能刺激經濟增長後，美聯儲實施了美國經濟從未使用過的手段，那就是，數次實施鉅額債券購買計劃，迫使利率降低。
財政危機8年後的今天，美國的失業率從衰退高峯期2009年的10%下跌到5.5%，股票市場收回損失，並達到歷史新高。
美聯儲專家認爲，通脹率保持在2%以下對經濟有利。
