Inflation in the United States set a new 12-month high in February, driven in particular by rising gasoline prices after the start of the war in Ukraine.
In the last twelve months to February, inflation was 7.9%, the highest since January 1982.
Compared to the previous month, the February increase was 0.8%, according to the consumer price index (CPI) published on Thursday by the Department of Labor.
Gasoline prices explain almost a third of this increase, with an increase of 6.6% compared to January.
Last month, food items also suffered increases (1%), especially in stores (1.4%), while the increase in restaurants was much more moderate (0.4%).
Meanwhile, used car prices, which have risen 41.2% from February 2021, marked a small one-month decline (-0.2%), the first since September.
“The Russo-Ukrainian war further fuels the skyrocketing rate of inflation through rising prices for energy, food and basic raw materials, which are inflated by worsening supply chain problems”, said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Oxford Economics.
“This will lead to a higher peak in inflation in the short term and a slower-than-expected slowdown in 2022.″, he added, while forecasting inflation “of almost 6.5% on average in 2022 after an increase of 4.7% in 2021″.
In the short term, gasoline should continue to rise in March as the price of a barrel approaches its all-time high since 2008.
Source: Gestion
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