WASHINGTON (AP) — Several Federal Reserve policymakers this month favored slowing the Fed's efforts to maintain record-low long-term interest rates as early as June — if the economy showed strong and sustained growth. But those officials appeared at odds over what evidence would demonstrate such gains.

Minutes of the Fed's April 30-May 1 meeting released Wednesday show "a number" of members expressed a willingness to scale back the $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds the Fed has been purchasing, perhaps as soon as next month, if the economy accelerates. The Fed next meets on June 18-19.

Still, Chairman Ben Bernanke, the Fed's most important voice, signaled Wednesday in testimony to Congress that it is too soon for the Federal Reserve to slow its extraordinary stimulus programs.

Reducing the Fed's efforts to keep borrowing rates low would "carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery," Bernanke said in testimony to the Joint Economic Committee, a panel that includes members of the House and Senate.

The Fed has been buying $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds since September. That has helped lower long-term interest rates and encouraged more borrowing and spending.

After the April 30-May 1 meeting, the Fed said it could increase or decrease the pace depending on how the job market and inflation fare.

In recent months, the job market and the broader economy have shown renewed vigor. The economy has added an average of 208,000 jobs a month since November. That's up from only 138,000 a month in the previous six months.

At Wednesday's hearing, Bernanke noted that the economy is growing moderately this year and unemployment has fallen to a four-year low of 7.5 percent. Still, unemployment remains well above levels consistent with healthy economies. And Bernanke said higher taxes and deep federal spending cuts are expected to slow economic growth this year.

When pressed by lawmakers, Bernanke said the pace could be reduced over the next few meetings, if the job market shows "real and sustainable progress." And he wouldn't rule out curtailing the purchases by Labor Day.

But Bernanke said that the Fed could just as quickly reverse course and pick up the pace if the economy falters.

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DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai contractor Arabtec said on Wednesday a four-day strike by foreign workers seeking higher pay was over and the emirate's police chief said 200 of them would be repatriated.

The company, in which Abu Dhabi state-owned fund Aabar owns a near 22-percent stake, did not say whether workers' demands for a wage hike of about $50 per month had been met.

Thousands of workers stayed away from work from Saturday in a rare labor protest in Dubai where trade unions are banned.

"This unwarranted stoppage had been instigated by a minority group who will be held accountable for their actions," Arabtec said in a statement on Dubai's bourse earlier on Wednesday.

Police chief Dahi Khalfan said about 200 workers who took part in the protests had been taken into custody in preparation for being sent home at their own request.

Arabtec was among the contractors that built Dubai's palm-shaped island projects and the world's tallest tower, the Burj Khalifa.

Police were called into Arabtec worker accommodation on Monday after laborers refused to report for work.

Khalfan said 200 workers had said they no longer wanted to work for Arabtec and asked to be repatriated.

"The police doesn't interfere with company matters but the workers don't want to work and they asked to leave," Khalfan told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai.

(Reporting by Praveen Menon and Mirna Sleiman; Editing by David Cowell)

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By Praveen Menon and Dinesh Nair

DUBAI (Reuters) - Carrefour , Europe's largest retailer, agreed to sell its remaining 25-percent stake in a Middle East joint venture to local partner Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) for 530 million euros ($682.45 million), MAF said in a statement on Wednesday.

Majid Al Futtaim Hypermarkets, the venture set up in 1995, operates 50 hypermarkets and 44 supermarkets under the Carrefour name in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

"Majid Al Futtaim...will keep and strengthen the strategic partnership with Carrefour in new countries and new formats," the company said in the statement.

MAF will keep its exclusive franchise partnership with Carrefour until 2025, allowing the company to operate under the French retailer's brand name in the region.

Carrefour, the world's largest retailer after Wal-Mart , sold 2.8 billion euros ($3.60 billion) of assets last year, withdrawing from Greece, Colombia and Indonesia, to raise cash for investments and shore up its balance sheet.

It sold a 12 percent stake in another joint venture CarrefourSA in Turkey to its partner Sabanci Holding for 60 million euros ($79 million) in April.

Unlisted MAF is keen to expand its operations and is said to be in talks to buy Egypt's largest supermarket chain from family-owned Mansour Group.

MAF's retail division had revenue of 17.8 billion dirhams ($4.85 billion) in 2012. In a 2011 bond prospectus, MAF said all of its retail revenue was derived from operations of its Carrefour stores.

Earlier, sources told Reuters that MAF was set to acquire Carrefour's stake in the venture.

Carrefour shares closed 4.7 percent higher in Paris.

HYBRID BOND

MAF is set to issue a hybrid bond - which combines elements of both debt and equity - to finance the transaction, three sources familiar with the matter said. MAF declined to comment.

Financing an acquisition through the issuance of a hybrid bond would be the first such transaction in the region. So far only banks have tested markets with such structures.

Similar issues have carried a higher coupon, which could tempt global investors amid current low yields across emerging market bonds.

IFR said on Wednesday that MAF, rated BBB+/BBB by S&P and Fitch, had mandated banks and that a series of fixed-income investor meetings would be held in the UAE, Asia and Europe starting on May 26.

MAF is the only investment-grade private corporation in the Gulf to have previously issued bonds. The rarity of corporate debt issuance from the region could boost demand for any hybrid issue, banking sources said.

($1 = 3.6730 UAE dirhams)

($1 = 0.7766 euros)

(Additional reporting by Rachna Uppal in Dubai and Dominique Vidalon in Paris; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

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