Washington, Feb 2 (IANS) The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday implemented its first rate hike in the new year.The central bank hiked rates by a quarter percentage point, marking the eighth time the Fed has raised rates since it began tightening in March last year."Inflation has eased somewhat but remains elevated," the Fed said in a statement.The Fed is engaged in the most aggressive rate hike cycle in many years, in a bid to quell the worst inflation in four decades, Xinhua news agency reported.Last year, the US central bank implemented four rate increases of 75 basis points.
--IANS int/khz/
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