Fed keeps the funds rate steady as it ‘proceeds carefully’

The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to keep the federal funds rate at a range between 5.25 and 5.5 percent at its meeting this week. The move was widely expected by forecasters.

In his post-meeting press conference, Fed chair Jerome Powell emphasized the Fed’s mission of getting inflation back down to 2 percent. “The worst thing we can do,” Powell said, “is to fail to restore price stability.” Failing to do so, he said, would lead to inflationary cycles and would cause economic uncertainty for consumers, businesses, and global economies.

After its meeting, the FOMC also released its Summary of Economic Projections report, which accumulates the 19 FOMC meeting participants’ forecasts for real GDP growth, unemployment, inflation and the federal funds rate over the next three years and in the longer run.

The median expectation from FOMC members is now that 2023 real GDP growth will be 2.1 percent, up significantly from the committee’s