News > Fed raises key rate by a half-point in bid to tame inflation

Fed raises key rate by a half-point in bid to tame inflation

The US Federal Reserve on May 4 raised the benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points, in what is being viewed as the sharpest increase in over two decades.

The increase in the Fed’s key rate raised it to a range of 0.75 percent to 1 percent, the highest point since the pandemic struck two years ago. The half-point surge, the most aggressive since 2000, suggested that further large rate hikes are likely to come.