The U.S. Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate steady for a fourth consecutive time during a monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, amid expectations that it would start lowering rates later this year. After the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the central bank announced its decision to keep the rate between 5.25 and 5.50 percent. It has maintained the rate at the current level since its freeze in September. The latest decision put the gap between the key rates of South Korea and the United States at up to 2 percentage points. Reiterating its inflation target, the bank stressed, "The committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent." In considering any adjustments to the target rate range, the committee will "carefully" assess incoming data, the evolving outlook and the balance of risks, the bank said in a statement. Following the previous rate-setting mee ting in December, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the policy rate was likely at or near its peak for the tightening cycle -- remarks that indicated the Fed would pivot away from its rate hiking campaign launched in March 2022 to cool inflation. Source: Yonhap News Agency VERIFY.GOV.KH-the Cambodian Government's document verification platform developed by Cambodia's Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC)-wins a Gold Medal in the ASEAN Digital Awards 2024 hosted in Singapore under the auspices of the 4th ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting (ADGMIN) on Feb. 1. The 4th ADGMIN is attended by Digital Ministers from ASEAN Member States; Timor-Leste; ASEAN partners including, the Republic of Korea, China, Japan, India, and the United States; as well as the International Telecommunications Union. According to an MPTC's press release issued this evening, in this year's edition of the ASEAN Digital Awards, 125 top-performing digital products, services, and programmes from the 10 AMS have been submitted for consideration. Through multiple rounds of elimination, VERIFY.GOV.KH-as the government's official platform for document verification-has been selected as Cambodia's submission for the Public Sector category and has made its way through to the final round. After the final presen tation against other finalists, VERIFY.GOV.KH wins the Gold Medal in the Public Sector Category, officially being recognised as the most distinguished digital solution for delivering public services in ASEAN for 2024. 'This is the first time a Cambodian solution has received the Gold Medal in the Public Sector category of the ASEAN Digital Awards. This award is testament to the fruitful labour of MPTC and the Digital Government Committee (DGC) in developing digital solutions for better public service delivery, for our product has evidently received not only domestic recognition, but also regional recognition as the most outstanding public sector digital solution in ASEAN,' said delightfully H.E. CHEA Vandeth, Minister of Post and Telecommunications and President of DGC. 'This success demonstrates more clearly that VERIFY.GOV.KH's scope should be expanded not only within Cambodia, but also in the region - particularly as a collective mechanism for cross-border document verification among AMSs for verificatio n of trade documents and other official documents, rendering paper originals and notarization of copies no longer necessary. Such collective action will bring ASEAN Member States another step closer to our collective aspiration of unleashing the potential of digital technologies, and MPTC is committed to contribute to this collective journey,' he continued. The ASEAN Digital Awards has 6 categories: (1) Public Sector, (2) Private Sector, (3) Digital Inclusivity, (4) Digital Content, (5) Digital Start-Up, and (6) Digital Innovation, said the press release, adding that in the Public Sector category this year, Thailand's digital health data system won Silver, and Singapore's Digital Birth and Death Certificate initiative won Bronze. Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse