(Washington) Joe Biden made an effort on Thursday to downplay the poor inflation figures for November which will be released on Friday, assuring they were outdated and did not reflect “today’s reality.”
“Tomorrow we will have a report on consumer prices and experts expect them to be high again, in part due to energy prices and used car prices,” he said. said the host of the White House, departing from the usual practice of a president not commenting on an economic report before its publication.
“The information published tomorrow on energy in November does not reflect today’s reality, and it does not reflect the price cuts expected in the weeks and months to come, as in the automotive market,” a- he assured.
In October, inflation accelerated much more than expected in the United States, reaching a record level in thirty years, due to persistent problems in global supply chains which notably drove energy prices.
Compared with October 2020, prices had jumped 6.2% against 5.4% in September also year on year.
Joe Biden said at the time that his priority was to reverse the trend.
On Thursday, he asserted that in the weeks following the data collection for tomorrow’s November report, “energy prices have fallen.”
“The price of gasoline at the pump has already started to decline nationally, and actual pump prices in 20 states are now below the 20-year average,” he continued.
He added that natural gas prices recorded this week are 25% lower than their November average.
According to the president, the prices of used cars will also drop “in the months to come”.
Among the measures mentioned to combat high prices: reducing the costs of prescription drugs, health care costs, childcare costs and housing costs.
And Joe Biden assures him, this is precisely the object of his plan for social and environmental reforms, “Build Back Better”, “to build back better”.
Adopted by the House of Representatives on November 19, this plan is struggling to get the green light from the Senate.