Washington (AFP) – The US economy may be ready for the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark borrowing rate by the end of next year, the central bank’s Vice Chair Richard Clarida said Monday. The comments were the clearest signal yet that the Fed is preparing the way for further steps to contain inflation and normalize monetary policy after last week announcing it would begin cutting back its pandemic stimulus. “While we are clearly a ways away from considering raising interest rates,” Clarida said he believes the “necessary conditions for raising the target range for the federal funds rate w…

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