‘Slamming on the brakes’: economists react to the Federal Reserve’s rate hike

Some economists say it will take an economic contraction and higher unemployment to bring inflation down

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by the largest hike in 28 years on Wednesday as it fights to drag down runaway inflation - and now economists are weighing whether it's sufficient to cool the economy without crushing economic growth and slamming the economy into recession.

We're not trying to induce a recession," the Fed chair, Jerome Powell, said in comments after the rate hike was confirmed. But Powell made clear that some economic forces behind the 40-year inflation high are out of the Fed's control. Jumps in commodity prices, he said, could take the decision out of our hands".