IANS | 15 Jun, 2017
US Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised the benchmark interest rates for the fourth time since December 2015 and unveiled plan to start trimming its balance sheet.
"In view of realised and expected labour market conditions and inflation, the (Federal Open Market) Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1 to 1.25 percent," Xinhua quoted Fed as saying after concluding its two-day monetary policy meeting.
The central bank acknowledged the continuous progress in labour market while expressed their concerns over weak inflation.
Fed officials lowered their forecast for unemployment rate for 2017 down to 4.3 percent, compared to 4.5 percent projection made in March, while their forecast for inflation rate in 2017 was revised down to 1.6 percent from their forecast of 1.9 percent in March.
