The US Federal Reserve has held its main interest rate near zero, as it predicted a 'gradual resumption of sustainable economic growth'.
Concluding a two-day meeting, the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee, as widely expected, left the key rate in a range of zero to 0.25%.
The FOMC said the US economy remained weak but was showing signs of improvement.
Dismissing the notion that its efforts to boost the economy would spark inflationary pressures, the panel said it expects 'that inflation will remain subdued for some time'.
On the economic outlook, the FOMC said that 'conditions in financial markets have generally improved in recent months'.
It added that household spending had shown further signs of stabilising, though it was held back by job losses, lower housing wealth, and tight credit.
The Fed offered no indication that it would ramp up or scale back its effort to pump more liquidity into the financial system, an effort that began with a pledge this year to buy up more than one trillion dollars in US government and agency securities in an effort to push down interest rates.
