As economic activity slowed down sharply, monetary policy was eased aggressively in both advanced economies and EDEs. In major advanced economies, policy interest rates were cut to almost zero levels by early 2009 which stayed around those levels even three years later (as of early 2012).
Given the large unemployment rates and negative output gaps, the US Federal Reserve has indicated that the policy rate – the federal funds rate – will remain near zero till late 2014. The policy rate would thus remain near zero for almost six years, going by the Fed’s current assessment.