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News > World

The US Experiences The Highest Inflation Since The 1990s

  • Image representing inflation in the United States.

    Image representing inflation in the United States. | Photo: Twitter/ @rapplerdotcom

Published 25 November 2021
Opinion

By intensifying the impediments to supply chains, the Delta wave has helped sustain the high level of goods demand, adding to the upward pressure on prices.

A key U.S. inflation measure closely watched by the Federal Reserve in October posted its biggest year-over-year increase since the early 1990s amid supply chain bottlenecks, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

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The personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index, the Fed's preferred inflation measure, jumped 5 percent in October from a year ago, the fastest annual pace since Nov. 1990. The core PCE price index, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose 4.1 percent from a year ago, the fastest gain since January 1991, well above the Fed's inflation target of 2 percent.

"The record-high PCE deflator numbers will add to the pressure on the Fed as the market is pricing in a faster pace of tapering and an earlier start to rate hikes next year. We expect an acceleration of tapering operations at the December meeting, which will open a door to an earlier-than-anticipated rate hike around Dec. 2022. There is also the possibility of a rate hike as early as September," Tuan Nguyen, an economist at consulting firm RSM US LLP, said.

The Fed has pledged to keep the federal funds rate unchanged at the record-low level of near zero since the start of the pandemic. The central bank began last week to reduce its monthly asset purchase program of US$120 billion by US$15 billion.

At this pace, the Fed would end its asset purchases by June next year. While Fed officials "generally supported" the plan to reduce asset purchases by US$15 billion a month, some Fed officials wanted a faster pace to give the central bank leeway to raise rates sooner, according to the minutes of the Fed's recent policy meeting released Wednesday.

"Various participants noted that the Committee should be prepared to adjust the pace of asset purchases and raise the target range for the federal funds rate sooner than participants currently anticipated if inflation continued to run higher than levels consistent with the Committee's objectives," the Fed said in the minutes of its Nov. 2-3 meeting, referring to the Fed's policy-making committee.

The U.S. inflation pressures could take longer to subside than Fed officials had previously assessed. By intensifying the impediments to supply chains, the Delta wave has helped sustain the high level of goods demand, adding to the upward pressure on prices.

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