Some of the Federal Reserve’s top officials would have preferred to keep borrowing costs on hold last month, highlighting concerns among policymakers that elevated inflation still poses a threat to the US economy.
The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee cut borrowing costs for the first time this year in September, lowering the benchmark federal funds target range by a quarter-point to 4-4.25 per cent amid signs of a weakening jobs market.
However, the minutes of the mid-September vote showed that “a few” of the FOMC would have supported a decision to keep borrowing costs unchanged as inflation was in danger of remaining above the central bank’s goal.