WASHINGTON, June 20: The Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed its estimate for the economy's growth this year by a half point, and projected unemployment would be higher than it thought just two months ago.

The Federal Reserve ended a crunch policy meeting on Wednesday with a decision to extend existing stimulus measures until the end of the year, in a bid to tackle subpar US jobs growth.

The Fed projected gross domestic product would grow a maximum of 2.4 per cent by the end of the year, and the jobless rate would rise to as high as 8.2 per cent.

The central bank showed a more pessimistic view of the economy since its April 25 projections.—AFP