"The Committee hopes that the time will soon be right to raise the federal funds rate target."

With such a memorable phrase, typical of an oracle from 'Game of Thrones',

the Federal Reserve informed Earth today that it is going to raise interest rates by a quarter of a point on March 16.

It has less poetry than the central bank text, but that is the reality.

Incidentally, the issuing institute came to say that he should not be blamed

for the biggest rise in inflation in four decades

, summing up the situation in a lapidary phrase: "The progress of the economy depends on the evolution of the virus" . He only needed to add: "Don't shoot the pianist." The statement came a day after the IMF, another institution that has been spectacularly wrong about inflation, admitted that

prices will remain high until 2023.

The meeting of the Open Market Committee, which is the body of the 'Fed' in charge of setting monetary policy, was closely followed by financial operators to see the details of the schedule for tightening the central bank's monetary policy.

And this one met expectations.

The debt purchases initiated with the arrival of Covid-19 conclude in March, and at the meeting on the 15th and 16th of that month - actually, the next one that the Committee is going to hold, which meets every six weeks - rates will rise .

It will be the first rise in the price of money in three years

, and the definitive end of the monetary relaxation that began with Covid-19.

The only striking thing was the publication

of the 'Fed' balance sheet, which has grown to 9 trillion dollars (8 trillion euros)

after the debt purchases of the last two crises. In a second statement, the Committee declared unanimous agreement to start reducing the balance once interest rates have started to rise. That means that from March

the central bank will start selling debt

. That, in turn, will help interest rates rise, as more bonds are on the market and buyers will demand higher interest rates.

The market expected these measures, so it reacted favorably, with rises in the stock market and in debt.

Despite the seriousness of inflation, at a maximum of four decades, the issuing institute gave no signs of further tightening of monetary policy, which was one of the market's fears.

Thus, the world economy enters a new phase.

For the first time since the 1980s, central banks are trying to contain inflation

that shows no signs of slowing down.

All this in an unprecedented context, created by a pandemic that has lasted two years and continues without being fully controlled.

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