The US Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady
The US Federal Reserve decided on Wednesday to keep interest rates between 4.25 and 4.5%.
This came according to a statement by the US Federal Reserve, after a meeting, the first this year, to discuss the fate of interest rates.
The Federal Reserve’s first meeting in 2025 left interest rates unchanged at a range of 4.25 to 4.5%, according to the same source.
Interest rates have already been cut 3 times in a row in the meetings of December, November, and September 2024 by a total of one full percentage point.
Regarding the reasons behind the decision to keep interest rates steady, the bank stated that recent indicators show that economic activity continued to expand at a solid pace, the unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions have remained strong.
Meanwhile, several analysts expected the US Federal Reserve to continue to hold interest rates at their current range until the first half of 2025, after lowering them over three meetings in 2024, while assessing economic developments, tracking the path of inflation, and the repercussions of US President Donald Trump’s policies on some countries, including the European Union, China, and others.
This is the first meeting of the Federal Reserve under US President Donald Trump, who was inaugurated on January 20, following his victory in the US presidential elections held in November 2024.
