▲ This file photo, taken March 13, 2015, shows the Federal Reserve's headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Yonhap)

FOMC-benchmark rate

U.S. Fed holds key lending rate steady

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve left its benchmark lending rate unchanged Wednesday, in an anticipated pause expected to give policymakers more time to assess the effect of earlier rate hikes aimed at cooling inflation.

After the two-day rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank announced the decision to hold the rate steady between 5.25 percent and 5.50 percent. It raised the rate by a quarter percentage point to the current level in July.

Wednesday's decision marks the second pause in the rate-hiking campaign that the Fed started in March last year in the hopes of bringing inflation down to its 2 percent target.

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