Fed to Keep Interest Rates at Record Low Through Mid-2013

August 9, 2011 3:40 PM, EDT

The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that continuing sluggish economic conditions have prompted it to keep interest rates at “exceptionally low levels” at least through mid-2013.

The Fed has kept its target range for the federal funds rate — the rate that banks charge each other — at zero to 0.25% since first doing so in December 2008.

The Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement that economic growth has been slower than it expected, and discussed policy tools to promote a stronger economic recovery. The Fed said it “is prepared to employ these tools as appropriate.”

Click here for the Fed’s full statement. (Federal Reserve website.)