Fed chief sees US growth up to 4.0 percent in 2011

FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA: The US economic recovery is gaining traction and appears poised for growth of up to 4.0 percent this year, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.

"We see the economy strengthening," Bernanke said at small-business forum in Fairfax, a Virginia suburb of Washington. "Three or four percent-type of growth seems reasonable."

In its latest projections in early November, the Fed forecast GDP growth at between 3.0 and 3.6 percent by the end of the year.

Bernanke on Friday signaled the recovery would pick up slightly this year, but warned it would not be enough to reduce persistently high unemployment, which stood at 9.4 percent rate in December.

On Wednesday, a central bank report showed the US economy had expanded "moderately" in recent months.

The Fed's Beige Book report, which gathers information from the central bank's 12 districts, said that "economic activity continued to expand moderately from November through December."

The report will be used by the Federal Open Market Committee in the first policy-setting meeting of the year, scheduled January 25-26.

The tone of the report was more positive than in the December Beige Book report, which pointed to limited economic improvement.