US Fed announces biggest interest rate hike since 1994US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee at the headquarters of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. (AFP photo)WASHINGTON: The Federal Reserve announced the most aggressive interest rate increase in nearly 30 years, raising the benchmark borrowing rate by 0.75 percentage points on Wednesday as it battles against surging inflation. The Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee reaffirmed that it remains "strongly committed to returning inflation to its 2% objective" and expects to continue to raise the key rate. Committee members now see the federal funds rate ending the year at 3.4%, up from the 1.9% projection in March, according to the median quarterly forecast. Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George, a noted inflation-hawk, dissented from the committee vote, preferring a smaller, half-point increase.

Source: Bangkok Post June 16, 2022 03:15 UTC