April 25, 2012
BBBen S. BernankeApril 25, 2012 FOMC Press Conference
- The chair said the unemployment rate had fallen nearly a percentage point since August, to 8.2 percent.
- He cited participants' projections for the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2012 with a central tendency of 7.8 to 8.0 percent, declining to 6.7 to 7.4 percent by the fourth quarter of 2014.
- He noted participants' projections for inflation had a central tendency of 1.9 to 2.0 percent for 2012 and 1.7 to 2.0 percent for 2014.
- He said the FOMC's decision to maintain the guidance was a 9-to-1 vote in favor.
- He stated that if no action were taken by fiscal authorities, the size of the fiscal cliff was such that there was absolutely no chance the Federal Reserve could offset its effect on the economy.
From the opening statement
Press conference
CHAIRMAN BERNANKE. Good afternoon. Before we get to questions, I’ll summarize today’s policy action by the Federal Open Market Committee and then I’ll place the Committee’s policy decision in the context of our economic outlook and our collective judgment regarding the appropriate path of monetary policy.
As indicated in the statement releas ed earlier this afternoon, the Committee is maintaining the highly accommodative policies that we initiated at previous meetings. We decided to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to ¼ percent , and we continue to anticipate that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate at least through late 2014. Our program to extend the average maturity of the Federal Reserve’s securit y holdings—announced in September—will continue as scheduled. Each of these policy actions is intended to foster accommodative financial conditions that support the economic recovery in a context of price stability.
In conjunction with today’ s meeting, FOMC participants—the 5 Board members and the 12 Reserve Bank presidents—submitted their individual economic projections and policy assessments for the years 2012 to 2014 and over the long run. These projections serve as important inputs into the Committee’s deliberations.