It was the US central bank's second rate increase this year and seventh since the end of the recession. The last time the rate topped 2 percent was in late summer 2008, when the economy was contracting and the Fed was cutting rates toward zero, where they would remain for years after the financial crisis. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Fed, responsible for US monetary policy, raised rates in March and is on track to do so at least once more this year as part of a gradual series of steps to return interest rates to historically normal levels. The Fed, however, prefers a different inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures index, but analysts expect it to increase similarly. A few Fed officials have raised concerns that the inflation trend could accelerate rapidly, forcing the bank to raise rates faster than expected to keep the economy from overheating.