The U.S. Federal Reserve has held its benchmark interest rate steady, ending a string of three consecutive rate cuts.

After a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank said in a statement Wednesday that it had kept its key lending rate in a range of three-point-five percent to three-point-75 percent.

The committee cut the rate by a quarter-point at each of its last three meetings in September, October and December of last year.

The committee said that job gains have remained low, the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization and inflation remains somewhat elevated.

Following the freeze, the gap with South Korea’s benchmark rate remains one‑point‑25 percentage points.