WASHINGTON: Consumer inflation in the United States rose sharply to 3.3 per cent in March, government data showed on Wednesday, as higher energy prices due to the war in the Middle East hit Americans hard.
The nationwide sticker shock put pressure on US President Donald Trump, who has ordered peace talks with Iran.By comparison, the consumer price index (CPI) rose only 2.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) a month earlier.
Gasoline prices surged by 21.2 per cent between February and March — the largest monthly increase since the government began publishing a gasoline price index in 1967, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said.
Excluding volatile energy and food prices, inflation accelerated, rising 2.6 per cent compared to 2.5 a month earlier.Markets had anticipated the surge, according to the consensus published by MarketWatch.
The US and Israel began bombing Iran on February 28 and Tehran retaliated by blocking traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway used to carry a fifth of the world’s oil and gas deliveries.
Despite being the world’s top producer of crude oil, the United States also felt the pain, as prices at the gas pump shot up.The Trump administration — elected in part on a promise to quash inflation — maintains that the war’s economic disruptions will be temporary.
