What is the Federal Reserve's implementation note and how does it differ from the FOMC's postmeeting statement?
Beginning with the December 2015 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the Federal Reserve began publishing an implementation note along with the FOMC statement. The implementation note provides important details about how the Federal Reserve's policy tools are being used to keep the federal funds rate in the target range established by the FOMC. This information should help increase public awareness and understanding about the normalization of monetary policy.
The implementation note communicates the operational settings of the Federal Reserve's policy tools, including the interest rate paid on required and excess reserve balances, the offering rate on the Federal Reserve's overnight reverse repurchase agreements (ON RRPs), and the capacity of the ON RRP facility. In addition, the implementation note reports the primary credit rate charged on borrowing from the discount window. The implementation note also includes the directive to the Open Market Desk for the conduct of open market operations for the intermeeting period.
The implementation notes, together with the Committee's postmeeting statements and other FOMC materials, are available on the FOMC calendar page of the Federal Reserve's website.
For more information on the process of monetary policy normalization, visit www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/policy-normalization.htm.