WASHINGTON - The pace of US economic activity would pick up gradually in 2012 and 2013, while the unemployment rate would continue to hover at a stubbornly high level, the US Federal Reserve projected on Tuesday.

The US economy would gain momentum this year and next, boosted by the "accommodative monetary policy, further increases in credit availability, and improvements in consumer and business sentiment," the central bank said in the minutes of a December 2011 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting released on Tuesday.

"Over the forecast period, the gains in real gross domestic product (GDP) were anticipated to be sufficient to reduce the slack in product and labor markets only slowly, and the unemployment rate was expected to remain elevated at the end of 2013," said the Fed.

With long-run inflation expectations stable and the substantial slack in labor and product markets anticipated to persist over the forecast period, top officials of the US central bank predicted that the inflation would be subdued in 2012 and 2013.