Federal Reserve policymakers said Wednesday they expect economic growth to gradually accelerate, though they are refraining from new actions to lower borrowing costs, Bloomberg reported.

“The committee expects economic growth to remain moderate over coming quarters and then to pick up gradually,” the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement today at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Washington, D.C. “Despite some signs of improvement, the housing sector remains depressed.”

Policymakers led by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke are holding off on additional steps to boost the economy amid signs the more than two-year expansion is gaining strength. Still, the jobless rate isn’t declining fast enough to satisfy central bankers, who repeated their view today that borrowing costs are likely to remain “exceptionally low” at least through late 2014.

“Strains in global financial markets continue to pose significant downside risks to the economic outlook,” according to today’s statement. The Fed has cited the risk from strains in global markets in its previous five meetings. In March, it said those strains had “eased.”

The central bank said it would continue its swap of $400 billion of short-term debt with long-term debt to lengthen the average maturity of its holdings, a move dubbed Operation Twist. The Fed is scheduled to complete the program at the end of June.

The Fed also didn’t alter its policy of reinvesting its portfolio of maturing housing debt into agency mortgage-backed securities.