Federal Reserve System

The U.S. Federal Reserve left its key lending rate unchanged on Wednesday and penciled in just one rate cut this year, down from the three expected in March after inflation stalled in the first quarter.

Interest rates for deposits by households and corporations in Cyprus converged and matched in March, from having a spread of 55 basis points in February, according to data released by the Central Bank of Cyprus.

The interest rate spread between new deposits and loans widened to 5.71 percentage points in March, according to Bank of Greece data.

The weighted average interest rate on new deposits remained unchanged at 0.53%, while the corresponding interest rate on new loans increased by 47 basis points to 6.24%.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates steady for a sixth straight meeting Wednesday, with a summer start to cuts looking less likely owing to stubborn inflation.

Two US Federal Reserve officials indicated Wednesday that the nation's central bank is on track to tackle inflation, but that it is still too soon to begin lowering interest rates.

BELGRADE - The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) Executive Board decided on Thursday to keep the key policy rate on hold at 6.50 pct.

It did not change the rates on deposit (5.25 pct) and lending facilities (7.75 pct) either, the NBS said.

The interest rate spread between new deposits and loans remained almost unchanged at 5.71% in October as the weighted average interest rate on new deposits increased to 0.46%, while the corresponding rate on new loans remained almost unchanged at 6.17%, the Bank of Greece said on Monday.

A US central bank official has said that more interest rate hikes "will likely be needed" to bring inflation down further, shortly after policymakers lifted rates to the highest level since 2001.

The share of cash in real estate purchases is increasing, as the relevant data show. The sharp increase in lending rates has sharply reduced the demand for mortgages, but at the same time transactions continue to move upward, along with sales prices, which are breaking one record after another.

The U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark lending rate on July 26 to the highest level since 2001 to tackle above-target inflation, and signaled it could hike again later this year amid improving economic prospects.