The US Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 5.00 percent-5.25 percent, for the tenth time in about a year, and hinted that it may stop raising it as the economy slows down and fears of a recession grow.

---

 Edited  by |ANNA Sam

Economic section -  CJ journalist

Washington – May,3,2023

---

  In a unanimous decision, widely expected by the markets, the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve made this decision, according to an official statement, while its Chairman Jerome Powell stressed that he bases his decisions only on numbers.

The statement said that economic activity " expanded at a modest pace in the first quarter. Job gains have been strong in recent months, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation is still high".

"The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient. Stricter borrowing conditions for households and businesses are likely to affect economic activity, employment, and inflation. The extent of these effects remains uncertain. The committee is still very concerned about inflation risks," he said.

For his part, Powell said at a press conference:

"we will judge the state of the economy in our next decisions at the next meeting next month, not on expert estimates.

"We do not take the opinions of experts in assessing our decisions as much as we rely on the numbers and facts on the ground," he added.

He stressed the readiness to "take other tough decisions, if there is a need for this in the future," and said that "our goal will remain to return inflation to normal rates".

"We always try to find a balance between fighting inflation and maintaining growth opportunities in the economy ... Our estimates will always be continuous for the economic situation in general. In the next stage, we will reconsider our decisions according to new developments.. Our main goal is to return inflation to its normal rate of two percent," he said.

Lower energy prices largely helped to curb inflation in March in the United States, but this was not enough to prevent the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates again, according to previous forecasts.

---

{source}<script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-4474625449481215"
crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<!-- moss test ad -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
style="display:block"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-4474625449481215"
data-ad-slot="6499882985"
data-ad-format="auto"
data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>{/source}