Federal Reserve Holds Rates Steady: Target Range Kept at 4.25% to 4.50%
On March 19, 2025, the Federal Reserve released the statement of the Federal Open Market Committee, announcing that it would maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25 percent to 4.50 percent. The Committee met on March 18-19, and the statement was released at 2 p.m. Eastern Time that day.
Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace, the statement said, the unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, labor market conditions remain solid, and inflation remains somewhat elevated. The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run.
The Committee said that uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased, and that it is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate. In considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will carefully assess incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. The Committee is strongly committed to supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.
The statement said the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities, but will slow the pace of decline starting in April. The monthly redemption cap on Treasury securities will be lowered from $25 billion to $5 billion, while the monthly redemption cap on agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities will be maintained at $35 billion.
The decision was approved by a vote of 11 to 1. Voting in favor were Chair Powell, Vice Chair Williams, and Barr, Bowman, Collins, Cook, Goolsbee, Jefferson, Kugler, Musalem, and Schmid, 11 in all. Voting against was Governor Waller alone, who supported keeping the rate range unchanged but preferred to maintain the existing pace of securities holdings reductions.
The Summary of Economic Projections released the same day showed a median projection of 1.7 percent for real GDP growth in 2025, down from 2.1 percent in the December 2024 projections; a median projection of 2.7 percent for PCE inflation in 2025, up from 2.5 percent last December; a median projection of 2.8 percent for core PCE inflation; and a median projection of 3.9 percent for the federal funds rate at the end of 2025.
Taken together, the Committee this time neither adjusted the rate range nor stopped reducing its securities holdings; instead it markedly slowed the pace of Treasury reductions from April, while lowering the median projection for this year's economic growth and raising the median inflation projection in its forecasts. (Source: Federal Reserve)
Source: Federal Reserve
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：2025年3月19日，美联储主席鲍威尔在联邦公开市场委员会会议后的记者会上回答记者提问。（美联储官方照片，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons） / Photo: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell answers reporters' questions at the FOMC press conference on March 19, 2025. (Official Federal Reserve photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
