Traditionally, the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, has raised interest rates once there was a sign of inflation, but in a historic about face, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has announced a change in monetary policy, indicating the Fed would keep short-term interest rates at near zero for as many as the next five years even if inflation increased.

At a speech during the Fed’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell said, “Forty years ago the biggest problem our economy faced was high and rising inflation.” But, as inflation has consistently remained under the Fed’s target of 2%, Powell believes “a robust job market can be sustained without causing an outbreak of inflation.”

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