The Federal Reserve has kept its key rate unchanged at about 3.9 per cent despite elevated inflation while providing little hint about the US central bank’s next moves.
“Inflation remains elevated,” the Fed said in a statement released after its two-day policy meeting.
Holding off on an increase will allow “the accumulation of more information” that will help determine what policy the Fed should pursue “to ensure a timely return of inflation” to the central bank’s 2.0 per cent inflation target, the statement said.
The Fed, led by chairman Kevin Warsh, raised its benchmark rate last month for the first time in three years, defying US President Donald Trump’s demands for rate cuts, in an effort to get inflation back to its 2.0 per cent target in a “timelier” manner.
The Fed is tasked by Congress to combat inflation, and it does so by lifting rates to slow borrowing and spending and cool price increases.
Two Fed officials dissented from Wednesday’s decision, with Fed governor Lisa Cook and Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland president Beth Hammack voting in favour of hiking rates by a quarter point.
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