INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Jerome Powell, the 16th chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of the US.3 min read Last Updated Sep 18 2024 | 11:53 PM IST
The Federal Reserve
cut interest rates by half of a percentage point on Wednesday, kicking off what is expected to be a steady easing of monetary policy with a
larger-than-usual reduction in borrowing costs that followed growing unease about the health of the job market.
"The committee has gained
greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals
are roughly in balance," policymakers on the United States central bank's rate-setting committee said in their latest statement, which
falling by another half of a percentage point by the end of this year, another full percentage point in 2025, and by a final half of a
"remains somewhat elevated," the Fed statement said policymakers chose to cut the overnight rate to the 4.75%-5.00% range "in light of the
risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee's goals," with attention to "both sides of its dual mandate" for stable
EDT (1830 GMT) to discuss the policy decision and the economic outlook
The Fed's policy meeting this week was its last before voters go to the polls in what is expected to be a close United States
presidential election on Nov
account for the fast decline in inflation since last year, or address concerns among some officials that the United States job market may
percentage point above that, and the new economic projections now show the annual rate of increase in the personal consumption expenditures
4.4%, higher than the current 4.2%, and remaining there through 2025.
Economic growth is seen at 2.1% through 2024 and 2% next year, the
same as in the last round of projections issued in June.
The Fed had held its policy rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range since July of 2023 as
inflation fell from a 40-year high to a level that is now approaching the central bank's target.First Published: Sep 18 2024 | 11:53 PMIST
