The second phase of the fight against inflation has begun in the United States, where the central bank, after a very strong increase in interest rates since the spring, is now slowing down and has sharply lowered its growth forecast for 2023, reports AFP.

The US Central Bank (FED) on Wednesday raised the main monetary rate by half a percentage point. In a statement after the meeting, the Fed announced that it had unanimously decided to raise interest rates to a range of 4.25% to 4.50%.

This is the highest level since 2007. And the Fed warned that it is not time to stop: new increases “will be appropriate”, the institution said.

Its officials even plan to raise them above 5.00%, while in previous forecasts published in September they expected 4.6%.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said at a press conference after the meeting that while price increases showed a “nice slowdown,” he believed “much more evidence is needed to be confident that inflation is indeed on a downward trend.”

This rate hike, less severe than previous ones, marks the beginning of a new phase in the fight against inflation, which is the Fed’s priority.

Faced with the biggest rate hike in more than 40 years, the Federal Reserve has brought in the heavy artillery since the start of the year, raising interest rates by three-quarters of a point four times, the most since 1994. But the consequences of His decision are felt after a few months.