Most Americans are feeling the pinch on their wallet, thanks (or no thanks) to the unsettling rise of inflation.
The consumer price index, a metric that tracks the change in prices over time, jumped 8.5 percent in March from 12 months earlier, the sharpest year-over-year increase since December 1981. Prices increased rapidly between February to March, too, when inflation rose 1.2 percent.
It’s driven by pandemic-era factors — like supply chain disruptions and high consumer demand — as well as the impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. To combat the issue, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates by a quarter point and signaled potentially as many as seven rate hikes this year.
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Here’s a closer look at how the price of goods has changed since March 2021:
Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com.Follow her @ditikohli_.