Minutes show Fed officials divided on magnitude of September rate cut

​​​​​​​By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US Federal Reserve officials were divided on the magnitude of an interest rate cut at their meeting last month, according to minutes of the central bank's most recent meeting that was released Wednesday.

"Some participants observed that they would have preferred a 25 basis point reduction of the target range at this meeting, and a few others indicated that they could have supported such a decision," it said.

Members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), in addition, noted that inflation was "still somewhat elevated while economic growth remained solid and unemployment remained low," it added.

The Fed on Sept. 18 lowered its interest rate by 50 basis points to a range between 4.75% - 5.0%, starting its monetary easing in aggressively. The move marked the first rate cut by the central bank in more than four years, since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Except for the emergency rate cuts during the start of the pandemic, the last time the Fed delivered a 50-basis-point rate cut was during the global financial crisis in 2008.

"A few participants remarked that the overall path of policy normalization, rather than the specific amount of initial easing at this meeting, would be more important in determining the degree of policy restriction," said the minutes.