While most of us are still struggling with paying high costs for goods and services, at least someone thinks inflation is starting to subside.
The someone is U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. In a speech in — of all places — Zambia, Africa, Yellen said she’s encouraged by the administration’s progress and noted that energy prices are dropping and the supply-chain issues business is experiencing has subsided a bit.
Yellen also pointed out that the U.S. labor market is very strong.
“We’re seeing those supply-chain problems significantly mitigate, inventories are being built, shipping costs have come down,” she told reporters. “And so that part of inflation is no longer really contributing very significantly.”
Yellen then got more specific and said the consumer price index dropped to 6.5% in December of last year. That’s a significant drop from June’s 9%. Yellen also added that producer prices are falling faster than expected.
Prices of goods fell in late 2022 and Yellen predicts that housing inflation will drop significantly by mid-year this year.
“Over the next six months, that should largely cease boosting US inflation,” she said. “I do think in the US we’re continuing to see a strong labor market and progress on inflation. And so those are very helpful signs.”
Source link: BNN Bloomberg — http://bit.ly/3HpIdNh
