WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Decisions by the US Federal Reserve Board on interest rates and monetary policy typically deviate from fixed rules by incorporating a wide variety of perspectives, the central bank’s Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said in a speech to guests at the Hoover Institution think tank on Friday.
"Policy rule prescriptions provide a useful starting point for FOMC [Federal Open Market Committee] deliberations," Fischer stated.
But he added that adherence to a simple policy rule is "not the most appropriate means" of achieving the Federal Reserve’s primary goal of maximum employment with low inflation.
Since the onset of the Great Recession in 2008, the Federal Reserve deviated from rules for determining interest rates to pursue an "accommodative monetary policy," Fischer explained.
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates near zero from late 2008 to late 2016. Since then the US central bank has raised rates twice, with expectations of two additional rate increases by the end of 2017.
