No official of the American central bank (Fed) anticipates a cut in its key rate in 2023, in the face of much more persistent inflation than expected, according to the minutes of their last meeting, published on Wednesday.

“No participant anticipates that it is appropriate to start cutting the policy rate in 2023,” reads the minutes of the December 13-14 meeting.

They are counting, on the other hand, on “continuous increases” in rates, estimating that they will undoubtedly be “appropriate to achieve the objectives”, that is to say to bring inflation back to around 2%.

Their pace will have to be determined according to the evolution of consumer prices, because the actions taken by the Fed, which has been raising rates since March, take time to have their full effects, it is specified.

"Participants generally observed that a restrictive policy should be maintained until the data suggests that inflation is on a persistent downward path at 2%, which should take some time" further details this report. .

Some Fed officials had also invoked the fact that “historical experience warns against premature easing of monetary policy”.

Economic forecasts released by the Fed after the meeting showed that Fed officials now plan to hike the key rate above 5.00%, when they saw it peak at 4.6%. in the previous forecasts, published in September.

Rates had, at the mid-December meeting, been raised by half a point, bringing them to the range of 4.25 to 4.50%, their highest level since 2007.

This strong increase, however, marked a slowdown compared to previous meetings, during which the Fed committee had resorted to increases of three-quarters of a point, a first since 1994.