U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about inflation on the White House in Washington, December 13, 2022.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
President Joe Biden on Tuesday celebrated the positive consumer price index report that showed inflation easing in america ahead of the vacation season.
“We learned last month that the inflation rate got here down, down greater than experts expected,” Biden said, speaking from the White House. “In a world where inflation is rising in double digits in lots of major economies all over the world, inflation is coming down in America.”
The core consumer price index, which excludes food and energy costs and which economists view as a primary indicator of inflation, rose only 0.2% in November. It is the smallest monthly increase in over a yr. The report released by the Labor Department on Tuesday found core CPI costs up 6% from a yr ago.
Overall CPI, which incorporates food and energy, rose 0.1% from the previous month and seven.1% during the last yr.
The easing suggests the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases could possibly be working as intended and the Fed may find a way to realize the “soft landing” it wants, avoiding a large-scale economic recession.
The report is more likely to be reassuring to the Fed and the central bank’s Chair Jerome Powell. When it concludes its meeting on Wednesday, the Fed is predicted to only increase rates of interest by a half-point — versus the three-quarter point hikes it has deployed all year long.
The report marks the fifth month in a row where the speed of inflation has declined in america, Biden said.
“I would like to be clear it should take time to get inflation back to normal levels as we make the transition to a more stable and regular growth,” Biden said.
Biden, standing beside Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia Rouse and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, said he hopes prices will return to normal by the top of next yr, if not sooner. But he stressed he cannot make that prediction.
“I’m just convinced they are not going to go up. I’m convinced they’ll proceed to go down,” he said.
The president acknowledged that many Americans are currently struggling. But he said the positive economic news confirms that his economic policies are working, and urged Americans to remain the course.
“What is evident is my economic plan is working and we’re just getting began,” Biden said. “My goal is straightforward: get prices under control without choking off economic growth; bring inflation down while keeping the labor market resilient; construct an economy from the underside up and the center out; an economy with good jobs, good wages and for the long term, not a boom or bust economy.”
