US consumer inflation hits 7.9% in February, highest since 1982

Prices continued to rise in February in U.Spushing an important measure of inflation to a level not seen since January 1982.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures a basket of goods and services, was 7.9% in the 12 months ended in February, without seasonal adjustments, informed the Center for Labor Statistics on Thursday (10). The result followed economists’ projections.

Gasoline, food and housing prices – which are necessary rather than discretionary spending – drove the increases in February.

February prices rose 0.8%, adjusted for seasonal changes, more than in January. Gasoline alone rose 6.6% and contributed nearly a third of the overall rise in inflation.

Foods rose 1% last month, the biggest monthly rise since April 2020.

About a third of the 24 cents-per-gallon increase in the price of regular gas came in the last five days of the month after Russia invaded Ukraine, according to data collected for AAA by the Oil Price Information Service.

But prices have soared since then, with the value of a gallon of regular gas rising 71 cents, or about 20%, since late February to $4.36 a gallon on Thursday.

The White House was bracing for a high inflation figure, press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday, due to rising costs of energywhich have risen since the beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

She added that rising prices in industries related to pandemicsuch as travel and restaurants, are also expected as the United States recovers from the wave of Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

In a separate report, the Department of Labor said that initial requests for assistance fromunemployment increased by 11,000 to 227,000 seasonally adjusted for the week ended March 5.

Economists predicted 217,000 new requests for the last week. Orders are down from a record 6.149 million reached in early April 2020.

With information from Reuters