<Anchor>
The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates again last night.
It increased by 0.75 percentage points for the second month in a row following the previous month.
As a result, the U.S. benchmark interest rate is higher than that of Korea.
Correspondent Kim Jong-won in New York will connect with you to discuss the details.
Correspondent Kim, did you eventually raise the interest rate by 0.75 percentage points as the market expected?
<Reporter>
Yes, after the record-breaking rise in the US consumer price index was announced last month, there were many predictions that the Fed will raise interest rates by one percentage point this month.
But that wasn't the case.
As originally expected, the increase was 0.75 percentage points, only at the giant step.
In fact, this giant step is also unusual to the extent that the US carried out the first step in 28 years since 1994 last month, which means that the price situation in the US is serious.
Chairman Powell once again emphasized that he would make every effort to bring the inflation rate down to the target of 2%.
[Jerome Powell/Federal Reserve Chairman: We are paying attention to the threat posed by high inflation.
I have a strong will to bring the inflation rate down to the target of 2%.]
<Anchor>
Reporter Kim, the more the US Federal Reserve continues to raise the benchmark interest rate sharply like this, the fear of an economic recession will inevitably increase as well.
But last night, the New York Stock Exchange rose a lot, didn't it?
<Reporter>
Yes, it is.
The US government is emphasizing that it can be 'avoided' every day from the president to the finance minister and Fed Chairman Powell, who briefed today (28th), with Lee Gu Dong-sung regarding concerns about an economic slowdown.
It's the same today, so let's hear it.
[Jerome Powell/Federal Reserve Chairman: I do not agree with the opinion that the United States is entering a recession.
The reason is that too many places in our economy are working too well.]
However, the IMF yesterday predicted that the US is very unlikely to avoid a recession, and many experts are diagnosing that the US economy has already entered a recession. , there is growing speculation that it will be burdensome for the Fed to continue raising interest rates in this situation.
Wall Street is even predicting that the Fed will cut interest rates again in the first half of next year.
In fact, today, Chairman Powell said that a large rate hike could be done in September, but on the other hand, he also emphasized that he would slow the rate of increase while watching the situation.
[Jerome Powell/Chairman of the US Federal Reserve: It seems appropriate to raise interest rates significantly at the September monetary policy meeting.
However, while we evaluate how the Fed's past monetary policy will affect our economy and inflation, it may be appropriate to slow the pace of rate hikes.]
The New York Stock Exchange surged today, with the Nasdaq rising more than 4% on this remark .
will run with
<Anchor>
Yes, the Korean economy will also be affected.
<Reporter>
Yes, with today's 0.75 percentage point increase in interest rates, the US benchmark interest rate has risen from 2.25% to 2.5%.
That's higher than Korea's base rate of 2.25%.
There are concerns that foreign money in the stock and bond markets could flow into the US with higher interest rates,
but this was not always the case when looking at data from past times when US interest rates were inverted.
Therefore, there is an analysis that there will be no big shock if the interest rate inversion period does not last for a long time.
There is also concern about the possibility of inflation due to a rise in the dollar exchange rate.