(Aboard Air Force One) The White House said it expects “very high” inflation in the United States in June, hours before the release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which had already reached a 40-year high in May.
Posted at 8:15 a.m.
“We expect last month’s inflation numbers to be very high, mainly because gas prices climbed so high in June,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday. Pierre, aboard the Air Force One presidential plane.
Inflation had reached a four-decade high in May, at 8.6% over one year and 1.0% over one month, according to figures from the Labor Department.
The market expects an increase of 8.8% year on year and 1.1% month on month for June.
A large increase could prompt the US central bank (Federal Reserve, Fed) to raise its key rates further after having already raised them by three-quarters of a percentage point in June, its largest increase since 1994.
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.