Read the text below in order to answer questions 15 to 18:
THE GOLDILOCKS SCENARIO CONTINUES
As the new Millennium gets under way, the US economy completes its ninth year of expansion. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates three times last year to temper the economy's expansion, which is the longest in US history. The benchmark lending rate was 5.5% at the start of the new year.
Analysts have been predicting that US interest rates would go up again when the Federal Open Market Committee meets. The economy's performance in the past calendar years (1996 to 1999) has surpassed all but the most optimistic predictions at the beginning of the period.
Growth of the economy has exceeded 4% in each of these years – with the exception of 1999 for which figures have yet to be announced, although 4% looks increasingly likely.
Few analysts thought the economy could sustain a growth performance like this without an increase in inflation. This situation has been dubbed the Goldilocks scenario.
According to the text, what does the verb temper refer to in relation to the US economy's expansion last year?
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