By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (Yonhap) — The U.S. Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate at a 22-year peak for a second consecutive occasion at a monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, in an effort to bring inflation down to its 2-percent target.
After the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) gathering, the central bank declared the decision to keep the rate between 5.25 percent and 5.50 percent. However, it is uncertain if the Fed will continue to keep it at the same level during the upcoming regular FOMC meeting on December 12-13.
At the previous FOMC meeting in September, the bank suspended the rate — the second break in its rate-hiking campaign that began in March last year with the intention to control inflation. In the July meeting, it increased the rate by a quarter percentage point to the current level.
This file photo, taken March 13, 2015, shows the Federal Reserve's headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)