The Federal Reserve announced another interest raise hike of 0.75 basis points Wednesday, to 2.25%, as they continue to attempt to fight inflation.

It’s the fourth raise this year and the second month in a row that the Fed raised it by three-quarters of a percentage point.

In a statement, the Fed said that some parts of the economy — like spending and production — have weakened. However, it noted that “job gains have been robust in recent months, and the unemployment rate has remained low.”

In June, inflation rose by 9.1% from a year earlier.

Central bankers voted unanimously to make the unusually large interest-rate move. The Federal Open Market Committee, in its post-meeting statement on Wednesday says that it “anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.”

The Fed began raising interest rates from near-zero low in March, and policymakers have been raising the rate ever since. After first making a quarter-point move, they raised by half a point in May and by three-quarters of a point in June, which was the largest single step since 1994.

This largest increase was made today because they are trying to bring out of control inflation under control.

Officials acknowledged that spending and production data have “softened,” they pointed out job gains have been “robust” but prices continue to increase quickly, “reflecting supply-and-demand imbalances related to the “pandemic, higher food and energy prices, and broader price pressures.”

After more than a year of rapid cost increases, Americans to expect inflation to last and even dive into a recession. With workers and businesses adjusting their behavior anticipating the steady rate of rising prices where workers are asking for higher wages, and companies are passing on their rising costs and expenses to customers, we have a recipe for inflation to become a permanent feature of the economy.

Inflation has accelerated around the world as the supply chains have been disrupted and the war in Ukraine disrupts fuel and food markets. Many central banks are lifting interest rates rapidly in order to slow down their own economies, hoping to bring prices back under control.

Higher interest rates slow down inflation by reducing demand as supply remains the same except more expensive across the board. Money continues to cost more to borrow causing fewer people to take out mortgages to buy houses or get business loans to expand their companies. The theory is that raising rates will create less economic activity so that the supply of goods and services available can catch up to demand. But companies are experiencing weaker profits, sales and are hiring fewer people.

Slowing the economy is a painful process that sends unemployment higher. The Fed itself acknowledges that its tools are blunt and that its fight to control inflation risks tipping the economy into an outright recession.