The written text of US Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman Jerome Powell’s speech before his speech before the Financial Services Committee, which is affiliated with the Congress, was announced.

Powell targeted this year for interest rate cuts in the text, but stated that they will look at the data as he has repeated many times before:

“The Committee does not expect that it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%. In considering any adjustments to the target range for the policy rate, we will carefully assess the incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. When we reach confidence, the expectation is we will do so sometime this year. We can then begin dialing back that restriction on our policy.”

The Fed last raised interest rates by 25 basis points in July. It is already a matter of curiosity what kind of decision the Fed, which has released interest rates in the last 4 meetings, will take at its meeting on 20 March…

In his previous statements, Powell stated that it was “difficult” to switch to interest rate cuts in March. Experts are waiting for an interest rate cut decision in May at the earliest.