The national average price of diesel fuel on Thursday rocketed to over five dollars per gallon, a record high that is sure to exacerbate inflation.
Increasing 12 cents overnight, a gallon of diesel fuel will now cost truck drivers $5.058, an increase of $1.691 since last month, according to AAA.
About 3.5 million American truckers and 711,000 trucking companies throughout the nation use diesel to fuel their trucks, which transport 70 percent of the nation’s freight tonnage, according to Diesel Technology Forum.
Rising diesel prices are sure to increase inflation. On Thursday, the Labor Department released inflation numbers. Breitbart News reported:
The Department of Labor said that the consumer price index (CPI) rose 7.9 percent compared with a year ago. Prices were up 0.8 compared with the prior month.
This is the ninth straight month of inflation above 5 percent. Prices rose at an annual rate of 7.5 percent in January, jumping 0.6 percent from December.
Economists had forecast CPI to rise by 0.7 percent for the month and 7.8 percent compared with a year ago.
The inflationary increase was expected by the White House.
“We expect to see a high headline in inflation in tomorrow’s February inflation data,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday.
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