Inflation hits another 40-year high

DUNDAS NEWS July 13th, 2022

The cost of petrol, food, and rent continued to rise in June, driving inflation up once more to a 40-year high and presumably reinforcing the Federal Reserve's decision to make another significant rate hike this month

The Labor Department's Consumer Price Index revealed on Wednesday that prices rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier, up from an annual rate of 8.6 percent the previous month and the highest increase since November 1981

The news supports the Federal Reserve's plans to aggressively fight inflation by increasing its benchmark interest rate by a hefty three-quarters of a percentage point for a second consecutive month

Prices for groceries increased by 1% from May and by 12.2% over the previous year

The Ukraine war has increased the price of fertiliser as well as its main component, natural gas, since Russia is the world's largest exporter of this product

Following a 0.6 percent gain in May, core prices—which don't include volatile food and energy prices—rose by 0.7 percent in June. This lowered the annual increase from 6 percent to 5.9 percent

Due to people moving into their own flats after staying with family members during the pandemic, rent increased by 0.8 percent each month and 5.8 percent over the previous year

Despite high demand, airline prices dropped by 1.8% and hotel prices by 2.8%, but both are still higher than they were a year ago by 34.1 % and 10%, respectively

However, there are signs that the rate of inflation will probably decline in the months to come