Release Date: September 24, 2002
For immediate release
The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate unchanged at 1 3/4 percent.
The information that has become available since the last meeting of the Committee suggests that aggregate demand is growing at a moderate pace.
Over time, the current accommodative stance of monetary policy, coupled with still robust underlying growth in productivity, should be sufficient to foster an improving business climate. However, considerable uncertainty persists about the extent and timing of the expected pickup in production and employment owing in part to the emergence of heightened geopolitical risks.
Consequently, the Committee believes that, for the foreseeable future, against the background of its long-run goals of price stability and sustainable economic growth and of the information currently available, the risks are weighted mainly toward conditions that may generate economic weakness.
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Alan Greenspan, Chairman; William J. McDonough, Vice Chairman; Ben S. Bernanke; Susan S. Bies; Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.; Jerry L. Jordan; Donald L. Kohn; Mark W. Olson; Anthony M. Santomero, and Gary H. Stern.
Voting against the action were: Edward M. Gramlich and Robert D. McTeer, Jr.
Governor Gramlich and President McTeer preferred a reduction in the target for the federal funds rate.