President Biden said Friday the cooling consumer price numbers for the month of July were evidence his economic plan was on track.
The index of personal consumption spending, a figure closely watched by the Federal Reserve to measure inflation, rose 6.3% year-on-year in July, declining from the 6.8% annual increase reported in June, according to the release on Friday Department of Commerce figures.
“Today confirms that our economic plan is building the economy bottom-up, middle-out, and we’re making progress,” Mr. Biden said.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices fell 0.1% from June to July, beating economists’ expectations.
Falling energy prices were the main contributors to downward pressure on consumer prices. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.1%.
The Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates several times this year to stem inflation, which peaked at 9.1% in June, and is considering another rate hike in the coming months.
“The American people are beginning to recover somewhat from high prices, and the anti-inflation bill I signed into law last month will also help bring prices down,” Biden said, referring to the $740 billion Democrats’ tax and spending bill, which he signed into law this month.
Critics say the anti-inflation law will have no impact on inflation and say consumer price figures released on Friday offer little to cheer.
“Democrats and their media allies are celebrating today’s monthly decline in the PCE index while ignoring that annual inflation remains near a 40-year high,” said Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of Job Creators Network. “To finally end this prolonged period of high inflation, the Biden administration and congressional Democrats must commit to halting their reckless spending.”
Mr. Biden acknowledged his administration needs to do more to ease the economic burden on families.
“We still have more work to do,” he said. “We must help families who have been squeezed from paycheck to paycheck for decades.”
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