Federal Reserve Officials Indicate Prolonged Interest Rate Maintenance

According to Odaily, Federal Reserve officials have concluded in their recent meeting that they need to maintain interest rates at their current level for a longer period than previously anticipated. This comes after the United States inflation data disappointed for the third consecutive month last year. Despite officials still believing that interest rates are high enough to curb economic activity and reduce inflation, they hinted at their uncertainty about the degree of policy restrictions. An unspecified number of officials mentioned that if inflation risks make tightening policies reasonable, they are willing to further tighten policies. In the second half of last year, price pressures significantly eased, and Federal Reserve officials hinted in March that if there were one or two more months of mild inflation, they might be prepared to start cutting interest rates. However, a series of data in the first quarter showed that price pressures in the economy are heating up. Unless the job market unexpectedly weakens, the Federal Reserve has been forced to shelve any consideration of starting to cut interest rates in the coming months.