The Federal Reserve raised benchmark US interest rates a 17th straight time on Thursday and said inflation risks remain even though slowing economic growth should help ease price pressures.
As widely expected, the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to lift the benchmark federal funds rate target a quarter-percentage point to 5.25 percent, its highest level since March 2001.
In a statement announcing its action, the FOMC - meeting for just the third time under new Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke - held open the possibility of further rate rises in its now two-year credit-tightening campaign.