US Fed Hikes Interest Rate By 75 Bps, Biggest Rise Since 1994: Key Points

The Fed’s policymakers hinted at two more rate hikes by the end of 2023, at which point they expect inflation to finally fall below 3 per cent, close to their target level

New Delhi: The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its largest interest rate increase by pushing its benchmark borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage points since 1994 to tame a surge in inflation amid signs of weaker consumer spending. The rate hike comes after the latest two-day policy meeting on rising inflation data and expectations of investors and economists. The Fed also indicated larger rate increases ahead raising the risk of a recession. In fact, officials expect steady rate increases through the rest of this year, perhaps including additional 75-basis-point hikes, with a federal funds rate at 3.4 per cent at year's end, reported news agency Reuters.

The move will raise its benchmark short-term rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, to a range of 1.5 per cent to 1.75 per cent.

The Labour Department on Friday said the consumer-price index, a wide-ranging measure of goods and services prices, increased 8.6 per cent in May from the same month a year ago, marking the highest reading since December 1981.

"We don't seek to put people out of work," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference adding that the central bank was "not trying to induce a recession." US consumer inflation in May went on to touch its highest level in more than four decades as rising energy and food prices pushed prices higher.

The Fed chief and his fellow policymakers will have to deal with lowering inflation from its current 40-year high. Powell said another three-quarter-point hike is possible at the Fed’s next meeting in late July if inflation pressures remain high, although he noted that such increases would not be common.

On Wednesday, the Fed’s policymakers hinted at two more rate hikes by the end of 2023, at which point they expect inflation to finally fall below 3 per cent, close to their target level. But they expect inflation to still be 5.2 per cent at the end of this year, much higher than they’d estimated in March.

In its forecast, Fed officials espect unemployment rising up this year and next, reaching 4.1 per cent in 2024 — a level that some economists said would risk a recession, as per news agency AP.

Borrowing costs have already seen a sharp rise acroos the US economy in response to the Fed’s moves, with the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate topping 5 per cent, its highest level since before the 2008 financial crisis, up from just 3 per cent at the start of the year.

Investments are impacted around the world as bonds to bitcoin have witnessed a decline this year as high inflation has forced the central banks to swiftly remove supports propped underneath markets early in the pandemic. It is being feared that the aggressive hikes in interest rates may force the economy into a recession.