The U.S. Federal Reserve has announced its biggest interest rate hike in almost 30 years in an effort to cool down soaring inflation.

After a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee(FOMC) on Wednesday, the Fed said in a statement that it raised its benchmark short-term interest rate by zero-point-75 percentage points.

The new target range is one-point-five percent to one-point-75 percent, up three-quarters of a percentage point from the previous range of zero-point-75 percent to one percent.

The so-called "giant step" marks the third hike this year and the biggest in 28 years since 1994 in the fight against inflation, which has steadily hit 40-year highs.

The Fed raised its key rate for the first time in more than three years in March, increasing it by a quarter of a percentage point. It then made a half-point increase in May, the largest since 2000.

After the FOMC meeting, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a press conference that the Fed will probably choose between a half-point and three-quarters of a point hike at its meeting in July.

The Fed also downgraded its 2022 growth forecast for the U.S. to one-point-seven percent, down one-point-one percentage point from its March estimate of two-point-eight percent.