March inflation in the U.S. likely set a new 40-year high

Inflation in the United States in March 2022 has likely set yet another 40-year high. The country has seen ever-rising costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities, threatening the economy.

The government’s consumer price index being released on Tuesday, April 12 is expected to show that prices shot up 8.4% from 12 months earlier, according to economists surveyed by the data firm FactSet.¹

That would mark the fastest year-over-year inflation since December 1981. And it would surpass the 7.9% 12-month increase in February, which itself set a 40-year high, the Associated Press reports.

Economists have also forecast that from February to March, consumer prices jumped 1.1%, marking the sharpest month-to-month jump since 2005.

“If the March price figures come in as expected, they will solidify expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise rates aggressively in the coming months to try to slow borrowing and spending and tame high inflation,” Paul Wiseman of AP said. “The financial markets, in fact, now foresee much steeper rate hikes this year than Fed officials had signaled as recently as last month.”

According to the FactSet survey, the so-called core inflation for the past 12 months is expected to have hit 6.6% – the biggest such year-over-year jump since August 1982.

References:

¹ Sticker shock: March inflation likely set new 40-year high – AP – April 12, 2022

Featured image credit: Elvert Barnes