The Federal Reserve announced that the minutes of the February monetary policy meeting will continue to raise interest rates.

　　On February 22nd, local time, the Federal Reserve released the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) monetary policy meeting from January 31st to February 1st. According to the contents published in the minutes of the meeting, the Fed said that although there are signs that inflation is declining, it is not enough to offset the need for further interest rate hikes. At present, the inflation rate is "still much higher" than the Fed’s target of 2%. What followed was that "the labor market is still very tight, resulting in continuous upward pressure on wages and prices." Therefore, the Federal Reserve decided to raise the target range of the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, which is the smallest rate hike since March 2022. According to the minutes of the meeting, almost all the participants supported the decision and agreed to continue raising interest rates until inflation was controlled.

　　At the same time, many participants said that the process of raising the debt ceiling in the United States has dragged on for too long, which may pose "significant risks" to the financial system and economy. Some participants believe that the prospect of economic recession in 2023 is rising. Some participants said that the job market is "very tight", the demand for labor exceeds the supply, and the continuous tight job market will put upward pressure on inflation. (CCTV reporter Xu Wei)