US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high for some time: Meeting minutes

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US Federal Reserve members intend to keep interest rates high for some time, according to minutes released Tuesday from the central bank's meeting held from Oct. 31 - Nov. 1.

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) participants "judged that aggregate demand and aggregate supply continued to come into better balance, as a result of the current restrictive stance of monetary policy and the continued normalization of aggregate supply conditions," said the minutes.

"Participants judged that the current stance of monetary policy was restrictive and was putting downward pressure on economic activity and inflation," it said. "All participants judged that it would be appropriate for policy to remain at a restrictive stance for some time until inflation is clearly moving down sustainably toward the Committee’s objective."

The Fed raised rates by 525 basis points from March 2022 to July 2023 in 11 meetings to fight record inflation that climbed last summer to its highest in more than 40 years.

The bank skipped an interest rate increase for the third time on Nov. 1, keeping the federal funds rate between the 5.25% - 5.5% target range -- the highest in 22 years.