Win Mcnamee Getty Images WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is preparing for Tuesday’s key consumer inflation report to show that American-paid prices soared in March as Russia’s attack on Ukraine sparked a jump in energy prices. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday that the Labor Department’s previous report – which showed prices were rising dramatically in February – did not include most of the jump in oil and gas costs caused by the unprovoked invasion of the Kremlin. “We expect that the CPI inflation in March will be extremely high due to the rise in Putin’s prices,” Psaki told reporters. “We expect a big difference between core and metric inflation,” he said, “reflecting global disruptions in the energy and food markets.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday will issue the March update of the Consumer Price Index or CPI. The CPI is the department’s tool for measuring inflation in a basket of goods and services that the average American would buy – from eggs and milk to cell phones and unleaded gasoline. Economists are looking at two versions of CPI data: the heading that includes all the prices faced by consumers and a so-called basic CPI that excludes the often volatile fluctuations in food and energy prices. The White House says it expects a larger-than-normal difference between the headline readings and the CPI core due to the unusual rise in gasoline prices in March. The price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline reached a record high of $ 4.33 on March 11, according to the American Automobile Association. That price has since dropped to $ 4.11 a gallon, according to the AAA. “At times, gas prices were more than a dollar above pre-invasion levels, so a 25 percent increase in gas prices would lead to tomorrow’s inflation measurement,” Psaki said. Labor Department figures have shown for months that price jumps from year to year have reached levels not seen since Ronald Reagan was in the Oval Office. The ministry reading in February showed that the consumer inflation benchmark had risen 7.9% in the last 12 months, the highest level since January 1982. The Ministry of Labor’s March Consumer Price Report is expected to be published on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET. The secretary-general noted that President Joe Biden has taken a number of steps to help reduce energy costs, including his move to release about 1 million barrels a day from the country’s Strategic Oil Reserve.
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Read more about CNBC political coverage: On the last day of March, Biden blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the latest rise in energy costs. “A lot of people are no longer buying Russian oil around the world. I banned Russian oil imports here in America, Republicans and Democrats in Congress demanded and supported it. It was the right thing to do,” Biden said on March 31. “But, as I said then, it will come at a cost,” he added. “As Russian oil leaves the world market, oil supply falls and prices rise. Now the rise in Putin’s prices is hurting Americans.” The deadlock – key elements of the president’s agenda to bolster the best program – backed by the White House and congressional Democrats could also help reduce the cost of childcare and healthcare, Psaki added.
