WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. economy is expected grow up to 4.0 percent in 2011, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.

"We see the economy strengthening," he told a small-business forum in Fairfax, a Virginia suburb of Washington. "We think a 3 to 4 percent-type of growth number for 2011 seems reasonable."

The Fed forecasted the U.S. economy would grow 3.0 to 3.6 percent in 2011 in early November when it launched a controversial 600 billion U.S. dollars government bond buying program to boost economic growth and bring down unemployment.

Recent data showed that the U.S. economic recovery was getting stronger in the last several months.

The central bank chief also noted that although the economic recovery is gaining strength, it is not enough to substantially bring down the unemployment rate, which is currently at 9.4 percent.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the U.S. wholesale prices rose by 1.1 percent in December 2010, the biggest rise in nearly a year.

But excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the so- called "core" wholesale prices rose just 0.2 percent in December, down from a 0.3 percent increase in November.

That lower reading on core prices indicates that inflation remains subdued, which provides room for the Federal Reserve to keep its key interest rate at historic low level.

The Fed will hold its first interest rate decision meeting of 2011 on January 25. No changes in monetary policy are expected.