03:12 PM EDT, 03/19/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Federal Open Market Committee does not need to rush to lower interest rates, particularly due to the heightened uncertainty around the economy in general and tariffs particularly, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday in a press conference after the FOMC meeting.

"As we parse the incoming information, we are focused on separating the signal from the noise as the outlook evolves," Powell said. "As we say in our statement in considering the extent and timing of additional adjustments to the target range for the federal fund rate, the committee will assess the outlook and assessing risks. We do not need to be to be in a hurry to adjust our policy straps and we are in greater position to wait for clarity."

Powell repeated that monetary policy is in a good place to deal with the uncertainty in the economic outlook and can adjust policy as needed.

The FOMC held the current range of the federal funds rate at 4.25% to 4.50%. It still projects two rate cuts in each of the next two years and one in 2027 but increased its inflation forecasts for 2025 and lowered its growth forecast due to uncertainty.

There is likely some impact on inflation expectations from tariffs, but it is hard to determine how much can be directly attributed to those policies, Powell said.

"Let me say it is going to be very difficult to have a precise assessment of how much of inflation is coming from tariffs and from other -- and that's already the case," Powell said. "You may have seen that goods inflation moved up pretty significantly in the first two months of the year. Trying to track that back to actual tariff increases given what was tariff and what was not" is challenging, he said.

"So some of it -- the answer is clearly some of it," Powell said. "A good part of it is coming from tariffs. But we will be working and so will other forecasters to try to find the best possible way to separate nontariff inflation from tariff inflation."

The FOMC will now allow up to $5 billion of Treasury securities to roll off its balance sheet, down from $25 billion previously, with Fed Governor Christopher Waller dissenting, preferring to maintain the current pace of roll-offs.

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