US President Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Photo credit: wikipedia commons

The US Federal Reserve made a record breaking $52.1 billion last year, despite the credit crisis, reported The Washington Post.

According to Reuters, the 47 percent increase in net income was due to the central bank’s aggressive program of buying bonds to push interest rates down and to stimulate growth.

In keeping with its policies, the Federal Reserve will hand over $46.1 billion in profits to the US Treasury, wrote The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. That will be the largest single amount ever paid since the central bank was created in 1914.

Reuters added that, “most of The Fed’s income came from its open-market buying of U.S. Treasury debt, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt, mortgage bonds and other securities. The bond buying program, which helped swell the Fed’s balance sheet to over $2 trillion, was aimed at holding down interest rates to spark an economic recovery.”

The previous record for profits paid to the US Treasury was $34.6 billion in 2007, The Washington Post reported.