1 of 2 | White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki warned the Consumer Price Index to be published Tuesday could show "extraordinarily elevated" levels of inflation. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI |
License Photo
April 11 (UPI) -- Upcoming inflation numbers to be released by the Department of Labor will likely be "extraordinarily elevated," White Press Secretary Jen Psaki warned Monday.
Consumer Price Index headline inflation numbers to be published Tuesday may be "extraordinarily elevated due to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's price hike, and we expect a large difference between core and headline inflation reflecting the global disruptions in energy and food markets," Psaki told reporters at a White House press briefing.
The CPI, a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a basket of consumer goods and services, is as the key tool used by the government to measure inflation.
"Headline inflation" takes into account all prices faced by consumers, while the CPI's core inflation number removes volatile food and energy prices, which can be unstable and prone to large-scale fluctuations.
The administration will release its latest monthly CPI Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET. The numbers are expected to paint a clearer picture of the effect Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine is having on the economy.
"We've talked about inflation long before there was an invasion," Psaki said. "But we also know that factually, if you look at the data, the average gas prices are up 80 cents to $1. It's about a 25% ... increase in gas prices since the start of this invasion. And we know energy prices is a big driver of the inflation data."
In March, U.S. annual inflation hit a 40-year high, climbing by 7.9% during the 12-month period ending in February. That was the steepest 12-month increase since 1982.
Gas prices started to creep back down on Monday, according to AAA.
