WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke has gone further than ever to explain its policies to the public. It’s ready to go further still.
A Fed policy meeting today will likely focus, in part, on an evolving plan to reveal the direction of interest rates more explicitly. The Fed may decide, for example, to regularly update the public on how long it plans to keep short- term rates at record lows.
Most analysts expect no announcements today about the new strategy or any further steps to try to strengthen the economy. They think the Fed wants to delay any new programs, such as additional bond purchases, to see if the economy can continue the modest gains it has been making.
The Fed has already taken numerous unorthodox steps to try to lift the economy. December, for example, marks three years since it cut its key rate, the federal funds rate, to a record low of between zero and 0.25 percent.
It has also bought more than $2 trillion in government bonds and mortgage-backed securities to try to cut long-term rates and lower borrowing costs. The Associated Press
