Lower Inflation in US forecast; food prices still trending up

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

Driven by low gas prices US inflation is slowing according to a government report, the news comes days after a harrowing forecast from the World Bank heralding a possible global recession if the market experiences any volatility including higher inflation.

The Consumer Price Index in the country which measures change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services is down, pushing inflation to 6.4 percent after reaching a forty year high back in June 2022 at 9.1 percent.

In addition to gasoline, energy prices, airplane tickets, and used car prices also decreased but food prices increased for consumers in the North American country.  The report exposed the massive spike in energy prices that plagued consumers in the country in 2022, a rise of 7.3 percent over 2021.

Those increases also affected the Turks and Caicos ramping up electricity bills.

US Inflation directly impacts prices of goods in the Turks and Caicos as the majority of our goods comes from the North American nation. Lower prices in the United States are particularly welcome in the Turks and Caicos.

Lowering inflation is the main goal of the US Federal Reserve which has a two percent target, this resulted in the Agency announcing aggressive interest rate hikes in 2022.

US economists are now predicting that lower inflation may put the brakes on any more aggressive rate hikes but no confirmation of that has come from the Fed.

UPDATED: March 30, 2023