WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve on Wednesday left interest rates near zero and repeated a vow to do what it takes to shore up the US economy amid an ongoing coronavirus pandemic that will not only"weigh heavily" on the near-term outlook but poses"considerable risks" for the medium term as well.
The public health crisis"will weigh heavily on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term, and poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term," the Fed said. The Fed said it expects to maintain the target range for its benchmark overnight lending rate at the current 0 per cent to 0.25 per cent "until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals," the same phrasing it used in its last policy statement on Mar 15.