LIBOR was the principal benchmark used to set interest rates for a vast number of commercial loans, mortgages, securities, derivatives, and other products. For a number of years—certainly at least since July of 2017, and really for several years before—it has been clear that LIBOR would end, but some believed it was not clear exactly when LIBOR would end.
Toward this end, and taking full account of the lags with which monetary policy affects the economy, the Committee will seek a trajectory for the economy that aligns economic activity with underlying productive capacity. Achieving this balance will foster sustainable growth and help to forestall one potential source of inflation pressure.