The U.S. Federal Reserve will reduce the number of interest rate meetings starting in 2027
The regulator plans to devote more time to strategic planning by reducing the number of meetings devoted specifically to interest rate decisions
The current schedule—eight meetings per year—has been in effect since 1981 / Photo: Flickr.com / Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve System will gradually transition to a new meeting schedule: In 2027, interest rate decisions will be made at seven out of eight meetings, and in 2028, at six, announced Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh. The announcement came after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept rates unchanged despite persistent inflationary pressures.
"We believe that eight meetings a year is the optimal number for the FOMC," Warsh told reporters on Wednesday (as quoted by Bloomberg).
The committee will devote one of its eight meetings in 2027 to discussing an “overall monetary policy strategy” without voting on the interest rate or issuing a concluding statement. In 2028, two of the eight meetings will be set aside for such strategic discussions, Warsh added.
“Sound policy requires evaluating short-term developments at regular, timely, and information-rich intervals. But it is equally important to allow our intellectually diverse group time and space for strategic discussions—to rethink the big questions, look at longer-term horizons, and focus, as I say, on the digits to the left of the decimal point,” the Fed chair explained the rationale behind the changes.
The current schedule—eight FOMC meetings per year—has been in place since 1981. Reducing the number of rate-setting meetings has been discussed before, but the idea was rejected out of concern that the central bank would be less able to respond quickly to sudden changes in the economy, NBC News notes. The reform would make the Fed an exception among major central banks, including the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan, which do not use this approach.
Changing the meeting schedule will be another step by Warsh toward restructuring the Fed’s operations. Since taking the helm of the U.S. central bank in May 2026, Warsh has already shortened the text of the FOMC’s statement, abandoned so-called “forward guidance” — the regulator’s forecasts for future inflation and unemployment — and has hinted at the possibility of reducing the number of press conferences, as well as established five working groups to review the central bank’s communication and balance sheet management.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
