He added: “At this particular moment, disinflationary pressures are paramount. They will not last indefinitely.”

Mr. Greenspan said there had been “some evidence of a pickup in inflation” until the Greek debt crisis took hold in the spring. But the resulting uncertainty drove down long-term interest rates  the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.82 percent on Friday, the lowest level since April 2009, and barely budged Monday  in a reflection of what Mr. Greenspan called continuing problems in the financial markets.

Mr. Greenspan declined to make recommendations or predictions for Fed policy, but on Wall Street, there is already talk that the Fed could begin a new round of quantitative easing  buying financial assets to hold down long-term interest rates and increase the supply of money.

Jan Hatzius, chief United States economist for Goldman Sachs, predicted on Friday that the Fed would begin a new round of asset purchases  which could include at least $1 trillion worth of Treasury securities  late this year or early next year. He revised down his forecast for the growth of gross domestic product in 2011 to 1.9 percent from 2.4 percent. He also predicted that unemployment would hit 10 percent in the second quarter of next year.

Among the voting members of the central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, the presidents of the Fed’s Boston and St. Louis district banks have warned recently about the threat of deflation, while the Kansas City bank president is known for his view that inflation, the Fed’s traditional enemy, remains the greatest threat. But it is Mr. Bernanke who holds the most say over the outcome.

Randall S. Kroszner, a former Fed governor, said the committee was certain to alter its outlook in its statement on Tuesday.

“I think the language will broadly change to acknowledge the moderation in the pace of the recovery,” he said.