Inflation in the United Statesfired about seven months ago, moderated slightly in April, standing at 8.3 percent year-on-yeartwo tenths less than in March, although it is still at historical levels not seen for forty years.
(Also read: Biden will prioritize the fight against inflation ahead of the legislative elections)
The monthly increase in consumer prices between March and April was 0.3 percent. The first brake on the rise in prices is a good sign for the US economy, although we will have to wait for the next few months to confirm whether the trend continues.
In any case, the still very high inflation continues to be driven, above all, by rising energy and food prices. Energy prices (including gasoline, crude oil, electricity and natural gas) rose in the last twelve months by 30.3 percentboosted by the rise in crude oil, of 80.5%, while gasoline increased by 43.6 percent.
As for the monthly change, Energy consumption prices fell 2.7 percent in April compared to Marchwith energy being one of the main reasons why inflation moderated last month.
Food prices, meanwhile, rose 9.4 percent in a yearespecially those related to purchases in the supermarket, which increased by 10.8%, while those of food in restaurants increased by 7.2 percent.
If food and fuel prices, which are the most volatile, are excluded, the
core inflation was 6.2 percent year on year.
Other sectors with price increases
The price of housing, one of the most important in calculating the
core inflation, rose 5.1 percent in a year, and its monthly increase was 0.5 percent.
In the automotive sector, new vehicle prices rose 13.2 percent in a year, while those of used vehicles did so by 22.7 percent.
The interesting note in this sector is that in recent months the prices of second-hand vehicles (which at the end of 2021 were skyrocketing) began to fall: They fell 0.2 percent in February, 3.8 percent in March and 0.4 percent in April.
How does the Biden Government respond?
The rise in prices has become the main headache for the US president, Joe Biden, who this Tuesday, one day before the April rate was published, stated that inflation is his “top domestic priority”.
Biden continues to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin and his decision to invade Ukraine for high inflation in the United States. A communicative tactic that the White House has been practicing for weeks but that has not caught on among the media or the majority of the population, especially since inflation was already rising a lot months before the war in Ukraine.
This Wednesday, just at the moment when the data for the
inflation, the US government announced three measures to combat the increase in agricultural prices: expand insurance coverage assumptions for certain crops, increase technical support for so-called “precision agriculture” and double funds for domestic production of fertilizers .
Fighting inflation has also become the priority of the Federal Reserve (Fed, the US central bank), which last week announced a half-point rise in interest rates, the largest increase for more than two decades, and anticipated more increases of this caliber.
Thus, after two years close to 0 to mitigate the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the economy, the official interest rate of the world’s largest economy is now in a range between 0.75 percent and one percent.
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