The US Federal Reserve kept the policy rate unchanged in the range of 5.25% to 5.5%. The US policymakers reaffirmed that the rate cuts could be seen three times this year.
Despite recent inflation data coming in hotter than expected, the numbers “haven’t really changed the overall story, which is that of inflation moving down gradually, on a somewhat bumpy road,” said US Fed Chair Jerome Powell in a press conference.
The Fed Chair said that inflation remains elevated and has raised economic expectations for the future, but lowered projection for the unemployment rate expectations it provided in December.
In the FOMC meeting, 19 policymakers of the US see three quarter-point rate cuts this year, while others see two or less than that.
On the economic front, the policymakers of the US forecasted economic growth this year to 2.1% from 1.4% projected in December. They also expect the country’s GDP to grow 2% from what they earlier expected – 1.8%
In the long term, the US policymakers pegged the Fed policy rate at 2.6%, up from the 2.5% that they expected earlier.