JAKARTA/BUENOS AIRES/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When the US Federal Reserve kept lifting interest rates this year, a world away in Jakarta profits dropped to next to nothing at Andy Kurniawan’s shop selling collectible action figures. US President Donald Trump has also blasted the Federal Reserve for going too fast and too hard, with little success. By raising interest rates and shedding its own asset holdings, the Federal Reserve makes US government bonds more appealing relative to riskier overseas investments. In Indonesia, the central bank has mentioned the Federal Reserve as a factor in a series of aggressive rate hikes that helped stabilize the rupiah after its latest leg in a 35-percent six-year decline. The Federal Reserve is expected to lift rates by another quarter percentage point on Wednesday, though doubts are growing about how much farther it will go next year.

Source: Egypt Independent December 18, 2018 13:07 UTC