The US Federal Reserve says it will remain "patient" in deciding when to raise interest rates.

In the wake of its first policy-setting meeting of the year, officials have said the U.S. economy is on track despite turmoil in other markets around the world.

It's holding off rate hikes from the current 0.25 percent for a few months yet.

There had been a suggestion that interest rates could be nudged up for the first time since 2008, but its tone was still optimistic and they're likely to go up later this year.

BNZ currency strategist Raiko Shareef says there's plenty of healthy activity on American soil, but poor data out of Japan and Europe are big risks.

"We anticipate that rate hikes will be neccessary in the middle of 2015," he says.

"I think the market's really expecting them to stay on that line."

Raiko Shareef says the Kiwi dollar could move by as much as three cents either way, with this morning's announcement.