White House on CPI Report Showing Prices Going Up, Sticky Core Price Increase: Our Strategy Is ‘Working’

During an interview on Bloomberg on Tuesday, White House National Economic Council Deputy Director Bharat Ramamurti reacted to the May CPI showing prices increasing 0.1% in the month of May with core inflation rising by 0.4% in the month — the sixth straight month of month-over-month core increases of at least 0.4% — by stating that “the strategy over the past year has obviously been working.” And “inflation has come down now for 11 straight months.”

Ramamurti said, [relevant remarks begin around 35:00] “I think that the strategy over the past year has obviously been working. If you look at the fact that inflation has come down now for 11 straight months. As you noted, inflation overall at the headline level is at the lowest point it’s been in over two years. And we’ve been able to make all of that progress at the same time as we have gained millions of jobs and our unemployment rate is well below 4%. So, the president laid out a strategy about a year ago in the pages of The Wall Street Journal talking about how we can transition from a period of rapid recovery to steady and stable growth while making progress on inflation. And so, I think we have to continue to stay the course that the president laid out. I should note that there are some changes in the pipeline that are also going to be helpful for reducing costs for consumers.”

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