Federal Reserve posts net loss of $77.6B in 2024
23:59, 21/03/2025, Friday
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Interest income totals $158.8B, while interest expenditures reach $226.8B last year
US Federal Reserve (Fed) reported an operating loss of $77.6 billion in 2024, marking the second straight year with a loss.
According to the bank's statement on Friday, the figure eased from the previous year's loss of $114.3 billion.
The Fed last made a net profit in 2022 with a profit of $58.8 billion.
The bank's interest expenses fell to $226.8 billion last year from $281.1 billion in 2023.
Interest income also fell to $158.8 billion in 2024 from the previous year's $174.5 billion.
The losses were driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was effective in 2020 and 2021, followed by interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 to contain rising inflation.
The policy rate was at historically high-levels of 5% to 5.50% until the bank began its rate-cuts last September.
The bank on Wednesday held the policy rate steady at the range of 4.25% to 4.50%, as widely expected.
"Uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased," the bank said in a statement.
Jerome Powell, the chair of the Fed, also warned that uncertainty is "unusually elevated" as the Trump administration tries to implement drastic economic change.