Federal Reserve Continues to Hold Interest Rates Steady

My colleagues and I are acutely aware that high inflation imposes significant hardship as it erodes purchasing power. Reducing inflation is likely to require a period of below potential growth and some softening of labor market conditions. The committee decided at today’s meeting to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25 to 5.5 percent, and to continue the process of significantly reducing our securities holdings. We are committed to achieving a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation sustainably down to 2 percent over time. Inflation has moderated since the middle of last year, and readings over the summer were quite favorable. But a few months of good data are only the beginning of what it will take to build confidence that inflation is moving down sustainably toward our goal. Price stability is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve. Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone.