The US Federal Reserve will provide another $800bn (€614bn) in a bid to unfreeze the credit market and stabilise the financial system, officials said today.

The Federal Reserve, confronted with the perils of a slumping US economy and rising inflation, decided for a second month in a row to leave interest rates unchanged.

THE US economy was in recession prior to September 11. The tragedy, from an economic view, could be seen as a “slightly positive development,” a leading economist said yesterday.