TEHRAN, March 22 - US Federal Reserve’s governing council, led by new chair Jerome Powell, voted to raise the cost of borrowing from 1.5 per cent to 1.75 per cent
TEHRAN,Young Journalists Club (YJC) - The US central bank has raised interest rates again, citing a tightening labor market.
“The labor market has continued to strengthen and...economic activity has been rising at a moderate rate” the Fed said in its statement.
“Job gains have been strong in recent months, and the unemployment rate has stayed low.”
The move was widely expected in financial markets and the reaction of the dollar and US government bond yields to the announcement was fairly muted.
“It was a fairly straightforward decision for Powell to take action and raise interest rates.
The median forecast among Fed officials for the number of 2018 rate rises was three, unchanged from previously.
However, the officials also raised their GDP forecasts for this year and next, with the median rising to 2.7 per cent for 2018 (from 2.5 per cent previously) and 2.4 per cent in 2019 (from 2.1 per cent before).
Source: Independent
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