New York, NY (BBN)- The US Federal Reserve has said it would keep interest rates at their record low levels as it warned that the country's economic recovery was moving slower than expected.
The sluggish economy also prompted the central bank to take its first steps in more than a year to further stimulate growth, pledging to buy up more government debt by reinvesting holdings of mortgage- backed securities into long-term Treasury securities.
The Bank of Japan announced that it had kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Tuesday. The bank said it was maintaining the benchmark interest rate at 0.1 percent, in a widely expected move.
BBN/SS/AD-13Aug10-3:02 pm (BST)
