U.S. Federal Reserve policy-makers put a stop to interest rate hikes in their August meeting for the first time since June 2004 because they feared another raise would hurt the economy.

“The full effect of previous increases in interest rates on activity and prices probably had not yet been felt, and a pause was viewed as appropriate to limit the risks of tightening too much,” revealed the minutes from their August meeting, which were released on Tuesday. “Following 17 consecutive policy firming actions, members generally saw limited risk in deferring further policy tightening that might prove necessary, as long as inflation expectations remained contained.”

Even though Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and all but one of his U.S. central bank colleagues voted to maintain the federal funds rate at 5.25%, the decision was a “close call and … that additional firming may well be needed.”

The minutes showed that Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Va., voted in favour of another rate hike because “further tightening was needed to bring inflation down more rapidly than would be the case if the policy rate were kept unchanged.”

Policy-makers also discussed ways to improve its communication strategies at the Aug. 8 meeting. “Conveying the degree of uncertainty and conditionality about committee expectations of future developments was seen as a major challenge,” the minutes said. “It was recognized that communications should support appropriate decision-making, including respect for the diversity of views that contributed to good decisions.”

Policy-makers agreed to continue their communications review at the Fed’s October meeting.