Mubasher: The Federal Reserve officials were in favour of a meeting-by-meeting approach regarding future interest rate decisions.

During the meeting held on 30 June, the Fed officials agreed to not release any indication regarding the number of upcoming easing steps, the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) showed on Wednesday.

“Participants generally favoured an approach in which policy would be guided by incoming information and its implications for the economic outlook and that avoided any appearance of following a preset course,” the minutes revealed.

According to the minutes, most participants viewed the proposed cut of the 25 basis points (bps) as a part of a mid-cycle adjustment in response to the performance of the economy over the last period.

“A number of participants suggested that the nature of many of the risks they judged to be weighing on the economy, and the absence of clarity regarding when those risks might be resolved, highlighted the need for policymakers to remain flexible and focused on the implications of incoming data for the outlook,” as per the minutes. 

The minutes also showed that the Fed staff dismissed the possibility of a recession, forecasting moderate growth in 2020 and a slight slowdown in 2021.

In July, The Fed decided to reduce interest rates by 25 basis points (bps), marking the end of the qualitative tightening programme.