Washington, Feb 2 : The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday implemented its first rate hike in the new year.

The central bank hiked rates by a quarter percentage point, marking the eighth time the Fed has raised rates since it began tightening in March last year.  "Inflation has eased somewhat but remains elevated," the Fed said in a statement.  The Fed is engaged in the most aggressive rate hike cycle in many years, in a bid to quell the worst inflation in four decades, Xinhua news agency reported.  Last year, the US central bank implemented four rate increases of 75 basis points.