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Fed holds interest rates on inflation, growth worries
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 05 - 08 - 2008


The US Federal Reserve left interest rates
unchanged Tuesday as it battles with the duelling concerns of
inflation and sluggish growth in the United States, according to dpa.
The US central bank kept its benchmark federal funds rate at 2 per
cent for the second straight meeting, warning that an ongoing credit
crisis could further impact growth while high energy costs continued
to spur inflation.
"Although downside risks to growth remain, the upside risks of
inflation are also of significant concern," the Federal Open Market
Committee said in a statement.
The 9-1 decision - one of the board's members preferred a rise in
the benchmark rate - had been expected by economists. The freeze
comes after a drastic series of rate cuts by a total of 3.25
percentage points over seven meetings from September to April.
The board said its already heavy easing of monetary policy would
help boost growth in the world's largest economy. Inflation was
expected to moderate later in the year and into 2009, but that
forecast was "highly uncertain."
Gross domestic product increased by 1.9 per cent in the second
quarter of 2008, up from 0.9 per cent in the first quarter and a 0.2-
per-cent contraction in the last three months of 2007, according to a
preliminary government estimate released last week.
Consumer prices jumped 5 per cent in June compared to the same
month in 2007, the government reported last month.


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