WASHINGTON - US Federal Reserve announced Wednesday to stick to the current ultra-loose monetary policy to support economic recovery, as the nation's economic activity came to a halt in recent months.

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee ( FOMC) met in December suggests that "growth in economic activity paused in recent months," in large part because of weather-related disruptions and other transitory factors, FOMC, the Fed's powerful interest rate setting panel, said in a statement.

Employment has continued to expand at a moderate pace but the unemployment rate remains high. Household spending and business fixed investment have advanced, while the housing sector has shown further improvement, the FOMC said after wrapping up its two-day policy meeting.

To beef up US economic growth, the central bank will continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month and longer-term Treasury securities at a pace of $45 billion per month, an ultra- loose monetary policy announced last month to expand the ongoing third round of quantitative easing program (QE3).