Washington ? The Federal Reserve on Tuesday nudged a key interest rate up to the highest level in nearly five years and left the door open for at least one more rate increase as Alan Greenspan brought his long tenure as chairman to a close.

At Greenspan’s final meeting, the central bank voted to boost its target for the federal funds rate to 4.5 percent. It was the 14th quarter-point move in a credit-tightening campaign that began 19 months ago.

On the heels of the Fed announcement, banks began announcing that they were boosting their prime lending rate by a quarter-point to 7.5 percent.

New Fed chair Ben Bernanke will be sworn in this morning.