Federal Reserve keeps its monetary policy unchanged

The Federal Reserve released its interest rate decision on Wednesday. The Fed kept its monetary policy unchanged. 2 of 17 Fed officials want to wait until 2016 before to start raising interest rates.

The Fed said that the U.S. economy "expanded moderately". Economic growth forecast for 2015 was downgraded, while forecasts for 2016 and 2017 were upgraded. The economy is expected to grow 1.8% - 2.00% in 2015, down from 2.3% - 2.7%.

There were no signals on the timing when the central bank starts raising its interest rate.

The Fed noted that it will start hiking its interest rate "when it has seen further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2 percent objective over the medium term".

The Fed Chai Janet Yellen said that too much is being paid to the timing of the interest rate hike. She added that the interest rate hike will be gradual.

The Fed expects the median interest rate to be 1.625% by the end of 2016, 2,875% by the end of 2017, and 3,750% in the long-term period.

The Fed Chair Janet Yellen also noted that the Fed may raise its interest rate twice this year, but she did not mention when it will happen. She said that the interest rate hike will be discussed it every meeting. In general, the tone of Yellen's speech was more dovish than expected.

The next FOMC meeting is scheduled to be on July 28-29. It is unlikely that the Fed will start raising its interest rate in July. Analysts expect that the central bank starts raising interest rate in September.