The chairman of the Federal Reserve said today that the agency is ready to take new action to bolster the economy, The Washington Post reported.

Speaking at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Ben Bernanke alluded to a plan “to provide additional accommodation if needed to support the economic recovery and to return inflation over time to levels consistent with our mandate.”

Low inflation and high unemployment have led to the Federal Reserve’s unconventional efforts to strengthen growth, which may include plans by the central bank to purchase hundreds of billions of dollars in bonds.

Bernanke discussed the option of buying large quantities of Treasury bonds, which would help the economy by lowering long-term interest rates. That measure would make it less expensive for Americans to borrow money on their homes or for businesses to get a loan.

He noted that the Fed’s policy-making committee will “take account” of potential costs and risks of its plans, which will likely be spelled out following its Nov. 2-3 policy meeting.

“In effect, inflation is running at rates that are too low relative to the levels that the committee judges to be most consistent with the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate in the longer run,” Bernanke said.

“Growth next year seems unlikely to be much above its longer-term trend,” he said. “Job creation may not exceed by much the increase in the size of the labor force, implying that the unemployment rate will decline only slowly.”