FED HIKES RATE, RAISES GDP FORECAST

The US Federal Reserve has increased its key interest rate from 1.5 per cent to 1.75 per cent, the highest since 2008. It is the first big decision by its new Chairman Jerome Powell and the sixth rate hike since Federal Open Market Committee started raising rates from near- zero in December 2015. Fed has also raised GDP forecast, and now the economy is expected to grow at 2.7 per cent and 2.4 per cent in 2018 and 2019, respectively.