The United States Federal Reserve (Fed) announced on Wednesday an interest rate hike of 0.75 points, the fifth increase since March and the third consecutive three-quarter point increase, in a new attempt to control inflation.
The US central bank met the expectations of economists and the official interest rate of the largest economy in the world now stands at a range between 3% and 3.25%, the highest level in the last 14 years.
After a two-day meeting, the members of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Fed made this decision, which will be justified in the next few minutes by the president of the Reserve, Jerome Powell, at a press conference.
Powell had already advanced last July, when he announced the previous risethat in September there would possibly be another “unusually large increase” in ratesa prediction that he has been reaffirming in his latest public speeches.
In various public events in recent weeks, he has insisted on the need for the Fed to continue with a restrictive monetary policy to lower prices and prevent citizens from getting used to high inflation, which in August stood at 8.3%.
“We must act now frankly, forcefully, as we have been doingand we have to keep doing it until the job is done,” he said in a recent talk.
This rise comes a week after the latest inflation data was released, which showed that, although the year-on-year rate of the CPI fell two tenths in August, up to 8.3%, in monthly terms prices rose one tenth compared to July.
Data that shows that, for the time being, the series of interest rate hikes that the Fed has been implementing since March is still not having the desired impact on prices.
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