What is ZIRP(zero interest rate policy)???

Zero interest rate policy is coming again.. Japan had to maintain its benchmark interest rate at or near zero for most of the 1999-2006.....

America is almost there too. Since October 29th, the target for the federal funds rate has been at 1%, but the rate at which funds actually change hands, known as the “effective rate”, has averaged around 0.25%.

The US is at 1% and Japan at .3%. Some analysts even reckon the Fed could move toward outright ZIRP (zero interest rate policy) to revive the economy and financial system.

We are nowhere near the end of this housing/credit/insolvency crisis and think ZIRP is not out of the question in our future. Each time a new crisis erupts, the fed will print/cut/inject in an effort to contain it, but will eventually run out of monetary ammunition... That's when the real hyperinflationary fireworks will begin.

With the Fed funds rate already down to 1 percent, and below one percent on many days, the central bank is fast approaching what economists call the “zero bound.”

The Bank of Japan had to maintain its benchmark interest rate at or near zero for most of the 1999-2006 period, before policymakers finally felt comfortable that the economy was in a sustainable recovery.

The real question for policy makers is what to do if they reach a zero rate and still want to rev up the economy. Fed officials have studied the question closely, and the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, gave a famous speech on the issue when he was a Fed governor in 2002.

Which country will first have ZIRP(Zero Interest Rate Policy) in the year 2009??