The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate less than 25% and near 0% and seemed to stay the same for the current future. The fed funds rate is used as a benchmark to determine interest paid by consumers on credit cards and home equity loans, as well as the rate paid on many business loans.

Fed policymakers cut the rate to a range between 0% and 0.25% in December 2008 in an effort to keep the economy from falling into a depression. It left it at that level throughout all eight 2009 meetings, even amid signs that the worst recession since the Great Depression came to an end at some point during the year.

The Fed’s statement that accompanied that decision cited a number of areas of the economy that are getting stronger, including the housing market and consumer spending. It said the labor market and business investment continue to lose ground, although at a slower pace.

This is the first Fed statement since the Labor Department reported a sharp drop in the number of net jobs lost by the economy to 11,000 in November, the smallest monthly decline by far since the start of 2008. It also follows better-than-expected numbers on such economic readings as retail sales and industrial production.

Economists believe the Fed policymakers still see enough genuine risk for the recovery that they will wait as long as possible, most likely until 2011, before starting to rise rates.

The Fed’s statement seemed to confirm that view, saying the continued weakness and the low risk of inflation meant that it is likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.

The low rates are only part of what the Fed has done to try to pump up the struggling U.S. economy since a crisis hit global financial markets in September 2008. It has added hundreds of billions to the economy through an expansion of its balance sheet to more than $2 trillion. To keep credit flowing, it has bought long-term Treasuries, mortgage-backed securities and a number of other types of loans to both financial firms and major corporations.