Consumer price inflation soared further in June in the United States, reaching 9.1% year on year, and is now at its highest since November 1981, according to the published consumer price index (CPI). Wednesday by the Labor Department.
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This figure, compared to +8.6% in May, represents a new blow for US President Joe Biden, who has been trying for several months to stem this price spike.
Over one month, the rise in prices amounted to 1.3% in June, against 1.0% in May.
This is more than expected, since a consensus of analysts polled by Bloomberg anticipated inflation for June at 8.8% over one year and 1.1% over one month.
The rise in prices affects all sectors, the Labor Department said in a statement, with the biggest contributors being the housing, gasoline and food indices.
Energy prices rose 41.6% year on year, recording their biggest rise since April 1980.
According to the United States Energy Agency (EIA), the average price of gasoline in the United States last month exceeded 5 dollars per gallon (about 3.8 liters), unheard of in the country.
As for food prices, they experienced their strongest increase since February 1981, increasing by 10.4% over one year.
Excluding food and energy prices, which are more volatile and which had soared particularly with the war in Ukraine, so-called underlying inflation rose more moderately over one month, to +0.7% against + 0.6% in the previous two months. Over one year, however, core inflation slowed compared to May, to +5.9% against +6.0%.
This high inflation erodes the purchasing power of Americans and represents a threat to growth, consumption being the main driver of the US economy.
It weighs down the popularity of Joe Biden, a few months before the mid-term elections.
The US central bank began aggressively raising interest rates in March to dampen demand and calm rising prices.