The US Federal Reserve voted unanimously on Wednesday to hike interest rates by a quarter point, the ninth rate hike since the central bank began combating inflation in March.

The move comes amid persistent banking sector weakness, worsened in part by increasing interest rates, and after the collapse of three local banks, reports CNN.

The quarter-point increase raises the federal funds rate to 5%-5.25%, the highest level in more than 15 years, it said.

The Federal Reserve’s post-meeting statement re-emphasized the central bank's commitment to lowering inflation, but it did not contain the preceding release's remark that “some additional policy firming may be appropriate.” This absence raises the prospect of a future slowdown in interest rate hikes.

Concerning the timing of that pause, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell stated during his post-meeting press conference that the central bank would "approach that question at the June meeting."

Powell stated that support for the interest rate hike was "very strong across the board," although there was some debate about ultimately stopping rate hikes, the CNN report also said.

“People did talk about pausing, but not so much at this meeting. There’s a sense that we’re much closer to the end of this than to the beginning,” Powell said. “If you add up all the tightening that’s going on through various channels, we feel like we’re getting close or maybe even there, but again that is going to be an ongoing assessment.”

This discussion among Federal Reserve members may heat up in the coming weeks as borrowing becomes more difficult and the US economy approaches the widely anticipated recession.

Powell, on the other hand, voiced some confidence about the US economy's resiliency, citing a sharp decline in jobs available without a large increase in the unemployment rate, added the report.

There were 9.59 million job openings in March, down from a high of 12 million in March 2022, and the unemployment rate has not risen beyond 3.7% since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates last year.