U.S. President Donald Trump believes that he has the authority to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and demote him to be a board governor, but is not planning to do so presently, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Trump is pressuring the Fed to reduce rates, saying in October that the central bank had "gone crazy" under Powell. 

The Fed on Wednesday said it was ready to battle growing global and domestic economic risks with interest rate cuts beginning as early as next month. The central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged for now. 

 

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) ((Kanishka.Singh@thomsonreuters.com; +91 80 6749 0021;))