Three months after President Biden said inflation was at its peak, the consumer price index hit a new 40-year high, according to a new Labor Department report released on Tuesday. The consumer price index rose 8.5% in March from a year earlier, the fastest rise since January 1982, when inflation reached 8.4%. The so-called base prices, which exclude more volatile food and energy measurements, rose 6% in January from a year earlier – a sharp rise from December, when they rose 5.5%. INFLATION INCREASED BY 8.5% IN MARCH, REACHING A NEW 40 YEAR HIGH President Joe Biden participates in a virtual call with the Union of National Governors from the White House campus on December 27, 2021. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / Getty Images) In December, when inflation was still at 6.8%, Biden told reporters that “it is the peak of the crisis” and “you will see it change sooner, faster, faster than people think.” The president’s comments at the time came several days after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress that “the factors pushing inflation up will remain for 2022. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the Senate Banking Committee at the Capitol. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh, Pool, File / AP Newsroom) Powell’s testimony came months after the White House described soaring inflation as “transient” and predicted it would fall again in 2022. However, the numbers continued to rise and the Federal Reserve was forced to take a more aggressive approach by approving a rate hike. 0.25 percentage points last month, the first increase since December 2018. The Fed is expected to continue raising interest rates in the coming months in a bid to slow borrowing and spending. “The Fed will steadily push the brake pedal – not just by pushing the brakes – in a bid to slow demand and slow down inflation,” Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, told the Associated Press on Tuesday. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT FOX BUSINESS Following Powell’s comments late last year, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki declined to comment, saying “it does not matter what you call it” and that “inflation will fall next year.” Spokeswoman Jen Psaki speaks during a briefing at the White House on March 17, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP via Getty Images) / Getty Images) The White House continues to blame rising prices on the Russia-Ukraine crisis and supply chain issues, while Republicans have blamed Biden’s green energy agenda and the US $ 1.9 trillion bailout plan for over-stimulating its economy. . Fox News’ Megan Henney contributed to the report.
