The Federal Reserve faces “hard discussion” in response to a slowing U.S. economy before the Kansas City Fed’s conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, according to Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co.

The dissent of three policy makers at yesterday’s policy meeting is significant, El-Erian said in a Bloomberg Television interview. The Fed pledged yesterday for the first time to keep its benchmark interest rate at a record low at least through mid-2013 to revive a recovery that’s “considerably slower” than anticipated.

Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may give additional signals in his Aug. 26 speech at the Jackson Hole conference, the venue he used last year to hint of the second round of quantitative easing.