Fed slows rate hikes, signals further increases are coming

The Federal Reserve slowed its drive to rein in inflation and said further interest-rate hikes are in store as officials debate when to end their most aggressive tightening of credit in four decades.

Chair Jerome Powell and fellow policymakers lifted the Fed’s target for its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 4.5per cent to 4.75per cent. The smaller move followed a half-point increase in December and four jumbo-sized 75 basis-point hikes prior to that.

The unanimous decision by the Federal Open Market Committee was in line with financial market expectations.

“The committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2per cent over time,” the Fed said in a statement issued after the two-day policymaking meeting, repeating language it has used in previous communications.