United States Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes published on Wednesday showed that all participants backed the decision to keep the key interest rate unchanged at the last FOMC meeting in January.
Committee members expressed their willingness to consider modifying elements of the Monetary Policy Strategy enacted in 2020 which set a 2% inflation rate as the central bank's long-term target. At the same time, members reiterated their commitment to maintaining the targetted inflation rate. Participants also agreed that the economic outlook remained unchanged from the December meeting. Concurrently, the document showed that the majority also wanted to see further progress on inflation before future monetary policy decisions. The stance remains in line with Chair Jerome Powell's statement that the Fed is in no hurry to cut rates.
According to the document, the staff sees consumer price inflation as still being "somewhat elevated." Conditions in the labor market were said to have "remained solid."
