(Reuters) – All of the Federal Reserve’s 12 regional banks wanted to keep unchanged the rate that commercial banks are charged for emergency loans ahead of the U.S. central bank’s December policy meeting, minutes from the directors’ discussions of the discount rate showed on Tuesday.
The recommendations from the directors, who don’t set policy but do advise the presidents of the regional Fed banks, were in keeping with the Fed’s decision last month to keep its benchmark overnight lending rate in a target range of between 0.00% and 0.25%.
“Overall, directors remained cautious about the pace of future improvements in the economy, given continued uncertainty about the course of the pandemic, vaccine developments, and additional fiscal support,” a summary of the deliberations released by the Fed said.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Andrea Ricci)