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U.S. economic growth in the first quarter was about half what the market expected. Despite this difficult economic situation, prices continue to rise, leading some to predict that the United States will raise interest rates further.

Special correspondent Kim Jong-won in New York reports.

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U.S. gross domestic product GDP growth in the first quarter was 1.1%, half of the 1% market expectation.

U.S. economic growth, which hit 1.2% in the third quarter of last year, has been falling ever since, raising concerns that a recession has begun.

High interest rates have dampened business sentiment, most notably due to a decline in real estate investment, which appears to be the aftermath of the Federal Reserve's unprecedentedly strong tightening policy.

The problem is that even with this slowdown, inflation shows little sign of slowing.

Personal consumption expenditures in the first quarter, a key indicator of inflation, rose 3.3% year-on-year, extending a larger increase than the previous quarter.

The job market, which is driving inflation, also shows no signs of slowing down.

So the prevailing view is that the Fed will raise rates again by 2.1 percentage points as expected at next week's monetary policy meeting.

There are also speculations that there will be further rate hikes in June.

[Ken Moreif/CEO of investment firm Retirement Planner: For the economy, inflation is a cancer, a recession is a cold, so the Fed will kill a recession if it wants to cure the cancer of inflation.]

Some say that creating a situation in which the economy is forced to continue raising interest rates even though it sees a slowdown is itself evidence that the Fed's policy is wrong.

(Video Interview: Lee Sang-wook, Video Editing: Cho Moo-hwan)