Inflation still a concern for Fed officials

According to minutes of their deliberations released Wednesday, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues believed that while the slowdown in housing continued to pose a threat to the overall economy, those risks had “diminished somewhat.”

The central bank still believed the greatest threat to the economy would occur if policymakers did not succeed in reducing inflation pressures.

The Fed at the January meeting left the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, unchanged at 5.25 percent. It marked the fifth straight meeting that rates have not been altered.