内容摘要：and often find it difficult to find consensus without Trump’s involvement.

and often find it difficult to find consensus without Trump’s involvement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged Wednesday and signaled that it still expects to cut rates twice this year even as it seesstaying stubbornly elevated.

The Fed also now expects the economy to grow more slowly this year and next than it did three months ago, according to a set of quarterly economic projections also released Wednesday. It forecasts growth falling to just 1.7% in 2025, down from 2.8% last year, and 1.8% in 2026. Policymakers also expect inflation will pick up slightly, to 2.7% by the end of this year from its current level of 2.5%. Both are above the central bank’s 2% target.Even though the Fed maintained its forecast for two cuts, economists noted that under the surface there were signs that the central bank could stay on hold for some time. That is likely to keep borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards unchanged in the coming months.Eight of the 19 Fed officials said they see only one or zero rate reductions this year, up from just four in December.

“It will be harder for them to cut rates this year with inflation moving sideways,” said Michael Gapen, an economist at Morgan Stanley.Fed Chair Jerome Powell, at a news conference, said that President Donald Trump’s tariffs have started to push up inflation and would likely stall the progress the central bank has seen in reducing inflation since its peak in 2022.

“I think we were getting closer and closer” to price stability, Powell said. “I wouldn’t say we were at that. ... I do think with the arrival of the tariff inflation, further progress may be delayed.”

On his Truth Social platform late Wednesday, Trump posted: “The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S. Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy. Do the right thing.”As inflation rates have declined from multidecade highs, central banks, including the

have started cutting interest rates, though few, if any, economists think that rates will fall back to the super-low levels that persisted in the years after the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 and during the pandemic.The Bank of England has lowered its main rate from a 16-year high of 5.25% by a quarter of a percentage on three occasions since last August, most recently in February,

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s central bank on Tuesday reduced its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage for a second time this year, to 3.85% after inflation fell within a target range.The Reserve Bank of Australia reduced its cash rate from 4.1%. The reduction from