The US Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) voted unanimously to keep its benchmark interest rate between 5.25 and 5.50 percent, and said that “modest” progress had been made toward its long-term inflation target of 2 percent.

The announcement suggests that central bank officials remain wary about cutting rates too soon, despite consumer inflation data published earlier Wednesday, which pointed to a slowdown in the rate of price increases in May.

The annual consumer price index (CPI) came in at 3.3 percent last month, down 0.1 percentage point from April and unchanged on a monthly basis, the Labor Department said. This was slightly below expectations.