The Federal Reserve Board of the United States ended its two-day monetary policy meeting on the 19th and announced that it will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate between 4.25% and 4.50%. Since the end of January meeting, the Federal Reserve has once again decided to keep interest rates unchanged. In a statement released on the same day, the Federal Open Market Committee, the decision-making body of the Federal Reserve, said that the US unemployment rate has remained stable at a low level in recent months, and the labor market conditions remain stable, but inflation is still "to some extent high". The slight difference in wording between the statement by the Federal Reserve on January 29th, which referred to "increased uncertainty in the economic outlook," and the statement released on January 29th, which stated "uncertain economic outlook," reflects the Fed's changing assessment of the US economic situation. The latest economic outlook released by the Federal Reserve on the same day showed that Fed officials' median forecast for this year's US gross domestic product growth rate was 1.7%, lower than the 2.1% forecast in December last year. The median inflation forecast measured by the personal consumption expenditure price index is 2.7%, higher than the 2.5% forecast in December last year. The median core inflation forecast after excluding food and energy prices is 2.8%, which is also higher than the 2.5% forecast in December last year. When asked at a press conference on the afternoon of the 19th how much of the high inflation expectations are caused by tariffs, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell replied that "a large part" of the impact is due to tariffs, but he also pointed out that it is "very difficult" to accurately assess this. When asked about the risk of a US economic recession, Powell said that some forecasters have slightly raised the likelihood of a recession, but the risk of a recession is still at a relatively moderate level. Powell also stated that the US government is making significant policy changes in four different areas: trade, immigration, fiscal policy, and government regulation, which will have a significant impact on the direction of the economy and monetary policy. However, the uncertainty surrounding these policy changes and their impact on the economic outlook remains high. (New Society)