US Federal Reserve raises key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points

The US Federal Reserve has raised its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, it has announced.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) unanimously decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to between 4.5% and 4.75%.

In seven hikes, the US central bank raised the rate by a total of 425 points last year.

"Inflation has eased somewhat but remains elevated," the FOMC said in a statement.

"Russia's war against Ukraine is causing tremendous human and economic hardship and is contributing to elevated global uncertainty."

The Fed's aggressive monetary tightening is a result of record consumer and producer prices, which are still hovering around their highest level in 40 years.

Annual consumer inflation in the US came in at 6.5% in December, easing from 7.1% in November, while producer inflation dropped to 6.2% in December from November's 7.3%.