As global prices continue to climb in the midst of a tumultuous environment for the energy sector, White House Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese said Monday that the U.S. is optimally positioned to address rising inflation woes.
I think what’s important as we look at the question [‘how much has U.S. government policy contributed to inflation?’] is to recognize that we are well-positioned to address this challenge from a position of relative economic strength, and that is because of the strength of our economic growth and our labor market recovery,” Deese told Yahoo Finance Live in an exclusive interview.
“So we’re seeing some of the strongest growth anywhere in the world, we’re seeing the strongest labor market recovery anywhere. Those are really powerful attributes that we have going into this challenge to try to come out on the other side,” he said.
March’s consumer price index report was released Tuesday morning and showcased an annual increase in inflation of 8.5%, a level slightly higher than expected. The uptick in prices was the highest increase in inflation in 40 years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and the thirteenth consecutive month that inflation has exceeded the Fed’s annual target rate of 2%.
“Prices are elevated here in the U.S., they’re elevated all around the world because we are in a globally supply-constrained economy, and we’re now dealing with the added shock to the supply side that has come from the war in Ukraine,” Deese added. “We’re seeing
Although gas prices now comprise the bulk of rising inflation, other sectors have also recorded steady price increases. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the CPI rose 6.5% on an annual basis in March, slightly higher than February’s 6.4%. Transportation services (less energy services), medical services, and shelter were some of the categories experiencing the highest inflation.
“At the end of the day, prices are too high and American families are feeling that,” Deese said. “And so we need to take every action we can to try to make things more affordable, provide some relief as the Fed acts the way that we anticipate it will on the monetary policy side. What we can do in the fiscal policy side is try to make things more affordable and give people some relief here in the interim period.”
elevated inflation across the Euro area, some of the highest numbers ever recorded there.”
News Source: Yahoo Finance
