Novas medidas do Governo pressionam contas em 0,6% do PIB

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan signaled on Tuesday he was ready to keep U.S. interest rates low for a "considerable" period of time to lift the sagging economy and ward off the threat of a dangerous fall in prices.

The Fed chief also said there is room for the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee to reduce rates beyond their current 45-year low of 1 percent if the economy fails to rebound strongly enough.

"The FOMC stands prepared to maintain a highly accommodative stance of policy for as long as needed to promote satisfactory economic performance," Greenspan told the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee in his semiannual monetary report.

Fed officials have recently discussed some unconventional ways they might act to combat deflation, such as intervening in the bond market to push down long-term rates. But Greenspan's latest comments made clear the Fed's traditional tool of cuts in short-term interest rates would remain its first line of defense against the deflation risk.

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