US inflation rate rises to 3.4% as citizens grapple with higher rents, food prices

 

The annual United States inflation rate jumped in December to 3.4 per cent as Americans grapple with higher rents and food prices.

The Labour Department’s latest report showed that the Consumer Price Index grew at an annual rate of 3.4 per cent, a 0.3 per cent rise from the 3.1 per cent annual inflation in November and 0.2 per cent more than the 3.2 per cent economists expected.

A further analysis showed that excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose just 0.3 per cent month over month, unchanged from November’s increase.

Also, core prices in the US were up 3.9 per cent from a year earlier, down a tick from November’s 4 per cent year-over-year gain.

Commenting on the development, Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist at High-Frequency Economics, said, “These readings support the Fed’s view that the policy stance should remain restrictive for some time. They also push back against pricing of imminent rate cuts.”

Meanwhile, Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria is expected to see its December headline inflation rise for the twelfth time in 2023 at 28.70 per cent, according to a prediction by Financial Derivatives Company