Federal Reserve interest rate hike guessing game
The Fed is not likely to increase rates in the week, but the steady growth of the domestic economy – regardless of the wobbles of financial markets as well as the weakness of other developed nations – is strengthening the hand of officials who say that higher rates are necessary to maintain control of price inflation.
The challenge now confronting Janet Yellen, the Fed’s chairwoman, is forging a consensus among Fed officials about how soon to resume the march begun in December, when the Fed raised rates, by 0.25%, for the first time since the financial crisis.
Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, the finance minister, told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday that he was going to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and planned to issue a statement on the matter, which involved the unauthorized transfer of at least $100 million from the central bank’s account with the New York Fed.
“I will certainly take some action against Bangladesh Bank,” Muhith said, without elaborating. “Bangladesh Bank has the audacity not to inform me.”
The NY Fed hack is just the latest in a series of high-profile security breaches, and reinforces the threat that financial companies are facing.