The Department of Labor reported that in the month of December, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. This figure represents a decrease of eight tenths of a percentage point with respect to November (7.3%). Likewise, core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, stood at 6% in December, three-tenths of a point less than the previous month.
The steady escalation of inflation prompted the Federal Reserve (Fed) to raise interest rates at a particularly rapid pace as part of the central bank's ongoing attempts to improve the economy. In 2022, inflation rose by more than four percentage points.
Inflation is currently below the four-decade high of 9.1% recorded in June. Although it is gradually slowing, it is still high for many Americans, who continue to see high prices for food, energy and rent, which have all skyrocketed over the past 18 months.
Food is becoming more expensive
Despite the stabilizing inflation rate, food prices remain high. They rose by a total of 10.4% year-over-year though just 0.3% from November to December.
In the last month of 2022, year-over-year energy prices actually decreased 5.8 points, dropping the rate to 7.3%. This is the largest decrease in energy prices since February 2021, when the results of the pandemic began to result in an economic crisis.
On the labor front, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 1.1% for the week ending Dec. 31, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous week's rate.
The December CPI report will be the last before the Fed makes a decision on interest rates on Feb. 1, according to CNBC.
