The US Federal Reserve raised the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points and signaled two more rate hikes in 2018, citing "strengthened" economic outlook in recent months.

因近几个月经济前景“有所改善”，美国联邦储蓄委员会近日宣布将其基准利率上调25个基点，并预示2018年还将有两次加息。

"In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation," the Fed decided¹ to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1.5 to 1.75 percent, the central bank said in a statement after concluding a two-day meeting.

在结束了为期两天的会议后，美国央行发表声明称：“鉴于当前和预期的劳动力市场及通货膨胀情况”，美联储决定将联邦基金利率的目标区间上调至1.5%至1.75%的水平。

Fed officials widely expected that the US economy would grow at a faster pace this and next year, driven by fiscal² stimulus³ and improved overseas demands.

美联储官员普遍预计，在财政刺激和海外需求增加的驱动下，今明两年的美国经济将以一个更快的速度增长。

The U.S. economy will grow at 2.7 percent in 2018 and 2.4 percent in 2019, higher than previous projections⁴ of 2.5 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively, according to the Fed's forecasts.

根据美联储的预测，2018年美国的经济增长将达到2.7%，2019年则达到2.4%，高于原先预期的2.5%和2.1%。

Fed officials also expected core inflation to rise to 2.1 percent next year, slightly above the Fed's target and up from an earlier projection⁵ of 2 percent.

此外，美联储官员还预计明年美国的核心通胀率将涨至2.1%，略高于美联储的目标，并高于此前预期的2%。

Fed policymakers still envisioned three rate hikes in 2018, unchanged from their forecast in December.

美联储政策制定者仍预期2018年将加息三次，与去年12月的预测相同。