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Inflation figures released in September showed a surge for the second straight month just as food prices and rent rose significantly, The Hill cited data released Thursday by the Labor Department.
The consumer price index (CPI), an indicator which measures inflation, rose 0.4 percent in September and 8.2 percent over the past 12 months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), The Hill reported. In September economist expected prices to rise roughly 0.3 percent and 8.1 percent over the last year,
In August the CPI rose by 0.1%, The Washington Times cited data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While inflation figures could prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rate, the bureau said increase in shelter as well as food and medical costs were the biggest contributors to higher prices.
As gasoline prices decreased by nearly 5%, food prices continued to rise, and increasing 0.8 percent over the month.
According to the BLS, the September surge in inflation was mostly due to rising shelter, food and medical care prices which negatively impacted a 4.9 percent drop last month in gasoline prices. All these led to a 0.6 percent rise in core CPI.
The annual inflation rate stood at 8.2%, down from 8.3% in August and down from a 41-year high of 9.2% in June, according to The Washington Times.
In past four months, the Fed’s interest rate target has risen by 2.25%, constituting the most aggressive rate hikes since the Great Inflation of the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to the Washington Examiner. The target is now 3% to 3.25%, the highest it has been since the financial crisis in 2008.
Continued interest rate hikes add to growing concerns of a possible recession in the future. The US economy has experienced two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product growth, but the labor market has remained robust. In August the economy added 263,000 new jobs reaching an average of 400,000 this year, the Washington Examiner reported.
The report is coming just a month into the midterm elections as Republicans hope they could take control of the House and challenge President Joe Biden’s chaotic open border policy.
Republicans are accusing the Democrats of fueling inflation by pumping so much pandemic relief funds into the economy when it was no longer needed.