The Federal Reserve is likely to refrain from raising interest rates for the rest of the year, according to the projections of its top officials, cementing the US central bank’s sharp shift towards a “patient” approach to monetary tightening in the face of waning economic momentum in the US and abroad.

At the end of a two-day meeting in Washington, US monetary policymakers decided unanimously to keep the target range for the Federal Funds rate between 2.25 per cent and 2.5 per cent, where it has been since December, as widely expected by economists.

Whereas late last year the median interest rate forecast of Fed officials implied two additional rises in 2019, it now implies none, as US central bankers downgraded their expectations for US economic growth this year to 2.1 per cent from 2.3 per cent in December.