US Treasury Secretary: Consumer prices have risen

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a Wall Street Journal conference on Wednesday that the global economy was facing several risks due to the Russia-Ukraine war, including high energy and food prices.

However, he claimed that the US economy is expected to grow well this year and that the Fed’s efforts to reduce inflation will help the US economy emerge from the crisis.

Yellen warned that if Russia continued to invade Ukraine, the United States would likely take more “action” against Moscow, and that Washington would continue to consult with European allies.

He said there was evidence that the current sanctions had been effective in weakening Russia’s economy, but that there was more that the United States could do.

The US Treasury Secretary claimed that the value of the US dollar will be maintained against other world currencies.

The statement came as the dollar index traded at its highest level in global markets since the start of the 2020 corona epidemic.

The value of the dollar in world markets has risen by about 10 percent over the past year, resulting in cheaper imports of goods to the United States and non-competitive exports of goods from that country to other worlds.

The rapid expansion of the US trade imbalance due to rising imports has affected the country’s GDP. Last week’s report from the US Department of Commerce showed that the country’s GDP in the first quarter of this year fell by 1.4 percent compared to the same period last year.

Over the past year, the cost of essential necessities in the United States has put pressure on American consumers and offset rising incomes.

The US Department of Labor said in its latest report that the inflation rate in this country increased by 8.5 percent in the last year, which is the highest increase in inflation in the United States in the last 40 years.

The US government report also shows that inflation increased by 1.2 percent in February to March, while it increased by 0.8 percent in January to February.

For the first time, inflation in the United States includes an increase in the price of gasoline in this country, which has shown an increasing trend after the war in Ukraine on February 24.

According to the American Automobile Association, the average price of a gallon (about 3.8 liters) of gasoline in the United States is $ 4.10, which is 43% more than last year. However, fuel prices in the United States have fallen in recent weeks.

Rising energy prices have led to rising costs of shipping goods and parts across the United States, which in turn has helped push up prices for consumers.