WASHINGTON, July 27. /TASS/. The US Federal Reserve System acting as the national central bank has increased the base interest rate by 0.75 percentage point to the level of 2.25-2.5%, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said Wednesday after the meeting.

"The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2% over the longer run. In support of these goals, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 2-1/4 to 2-1/2% and anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate," FOMC said.

"In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities, as described in the Plans for Reducing the Size of the Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet that were issued in May," FOMC added.