This is the third consecutive increase of the Federal Reserve and takes the reference rates to a range of 1.50%-1.75%Added to the high prices in the United States for fuel and food is the new increase in interest rates.Construction worker in the United StatesImage of the price of construction materials in a Home Depot chain storeA worker at an auto assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan on March 14, 2014. On July 25, 2014, the US Department of Commerce reported that orders for durable goods increased.(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)WASHINGTON- The US Federal Reserve (Fed, Central Bank), "determined now to bring inflation to its annual target of 2%", raised its benchmark interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point this Wednesday, the largest increase since 1994 , according to an official statement.This is the third consecutive increase and takes reference rates to a range of 1.50%-1.75%.The agency also increased its inflation forecast for 2022 to 5.2% and cut its growth forecast to 1.7%, at the end of a two-day meeting of its monetary policy committee.The prospect of a larger increase has roiled markets since last week, following May inflation data released on Friday.The consumer price data showed a record increase in 40 years in the 12-month measurement, with 8.6%.Markets and some economists quickly concluded that rates could also rise more than expected, not half a percentage point (or 50 basis points), but three-quarters of a point (75 basis points), as they eventually did.This is the largest rate increase in more than 27 years."We are very hopeful that the Fed will only raise 50 basis points today, but the market and media frenzy over the past few days...obviously makes 75 basis points much more likely," he lamented before the meeting. announced economist Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics in a research note.Guideline rate hikes increase the cost of loans that commercial banks make to their customers.The Fed is struggling even more to curb inflation because its credibility is at stake.Its officials claimed for months that this price increase would only be temporary and therefore only began to tighten the screws in March."In hindsight, ... it probably would have been better to raise rates sooner," the agency's president, Jerome Powell, admitted last month in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.Joe Biden's Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, also admitted that she had not anticipated this price increase.The Fed is independent of the federal government, but Powell was recently hosted by Biden at the White House, along with Yellen, for a rare meeting devoted to inflation.The Fed must on the other hand be careful to deliberately slow down the economy, so as not to plunge it into a recession.The Fed's Monetary Committee is meeting for the first time since Powell officially began his second term on May 23 and Lael Brainard became vice president of the institution.This meeting also marks the arrival of two new governors, Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to the body.Copyright Diario las Americas.All rights reserved