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US central bank, the Federal Reserve, has signaled that it will raise interest rates as early as next year. Earlier in November, the government is likely to start tapering the scale of its asset purchases.



Correspondent Kim Jong-won from New York.



<Reporter> The



US Federal Reserve has expressed its intention to raise interest rates early next year, after being frozen at zero for a year and a half.



According to the minutes of the Fed meeting released today (23rd), nine out of 18 members, or half, have expressed their intention to raise rates next year.



Meanwhile, the Fed also hinted at a plan to taper the government's asset purchases, starting two months later in November.



[Jerome Powell/Federal Reserve Chairman: It seems that the tapering (reducing the size of government asset purchases) will be announced at the next meeting (November). The committee will look at the broader economic environment and decide whether to tape it.] The



Fed, which has been supplying the market with $120 billion of bonds each month since the coronavirus outbreak, has decided it's time to downsize. is.



[Jerome Powell / Federal Reserve Chairman: The economic situation has improved noticeably. I think there has been a lot of progress (in terms of inflation or employment).] The



Fed has announced plans to reduce its asset purchases every month starting at the end of the year, to zero bond purchases by the middle of next year.



Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange closed today with all three major indices gaining more than 1% despite announcing a cut in asset purchases.