Federal Reserve Pays Treasury a Record $96.9 Billion
WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) — The Federal Reserve paid the U.S. Treasury a record $96.9 billion of its profits in 2014, documents released by the central bank said Friday.
The jump in its annual remittances to the Treasury was due in part to interest income earned on bonds the Fed purchased in recent years in an effort to help rebound the U.S. economy.
The Fed paid the Treasury $79.6 billion in 2013.
That number is expected to go down in the coming years as the Federal Reserve lets its bond program gradually shrink and looks to increase interest rates. Buoyed by the strengthening economy, the central bank announced an end to the bond-buying program in October.
The Fed’s total assets at the end of 2014 were $4.5 trillion, up by $500 billion from the previous year.
