您现在的位置: Language Tips> Audio & Video> Special Speed News  
   
 





 
Fed cuts short-term rates to nearly zero
[ 2008-12-19 10:59 ]

 

Download

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The United States Federal Reserve says it will use "all available tools" to restart economic growth. The central bank's main interest rate is now the lowest in its history. This week the Fed cut its target rate of one percent for overnight loans between banks to a target range of zero to one-fourth of one percent. The Fed based its decision on weakening economic conditions.

Americans have decreased their spending every month since July -- the longest period in at least sixteen years. Unemployment grew to six and seven-tenths percent in November -- the highest in fifteen years.

This week's cut in the federal funds rate was larger than many economists had expected. The Fed also cut its rate for direct loans to banks. And it began paying interest on balances held in the Federal Reserve System.

In the past, cutting rates has been a powerful tool to lift the economy. But President-elect Barack Obama says it is not enough this time.

BARACK OBAMA: "We're running out of traditional ammunition that's used in a recession, which is to lower interest rates. They're getting to be as low as they can go."

Some economists think the United States could face a "lost decade" like Japan in the nineteen nineties. The Bank of Japan cut rates to zero but failed to avoid a long recession.

The Fed is also taking other steps. Last month, it announced a plan to buy up to six hundred billion dollars in housing-related debt. Since then, rates for home loans have fallen. The average rate for a thirty-year mortgage was five and nineteen one-hundredths percent this week. That is the lowest in at least thirty-seven years.

And next year, the Fed plans to lend up to two hundred billion dollars to support credit markets for car and student loans and small businesses.

For now, the bank is following a policy of easy money because there is little risk of inflation. For the last two months there were record decreases in the Consumer Price Index, which goes back to nineteen forty-seven.

Prices for goods and services were nearly unchanged in November except for a big drop in energy prices. Gasoline prices fell almost thirty percent.

So far, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has failed to halt the drop in oil prices. OPEC agreed Wednesday in Algiers to a record production cut of more than two million barrels a day, or about seven percent. Even so, oil traded below forty dollars a barrel this week for the first time in four years.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

(Source: VOA 英语点津姗姗编辑)

 
英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
相关文章 Related Story
 
 
 
本频道最新推荐
 
Walking in the US first lady's shoes
“准确无误”如何表达
英国新晋超女苏珊大妈改头换面
猪流感 swine flu
你有lottery mentality吗
翻吧推荐
 
论坛热贴
 
别乱扔垃圾。怎么译这个乱字呀?
橘子,橙子用英文怎么区分?
看Gossip Girl学英语
端午节怎么翻译?
母亲,您在天堂还好吗?