Washington, (EFE).- The inflation rate in the United States fell by one point in June, to 3%, reaching its lowest level since before the pandemic and thus completing a year followed by declines, according to the Statistics Office Labor Laws (BLS).
In monthly terms, consumer prices rose two tenths compared to May.
US inflation has fallen for 12 consecutive months since, in June 2022, it broke its record for the last 40 years by standing at 9.1%.
The interest rate hikes approved since then by the Federal Reserve, as well as lower energy prices, have allowed the inflation rate in the United States to now stand at pre-pandemic levels and at its lowest rate in two years. .
Precisely, energy prices have fallen 16.7% in one year according to the BLS, while food rose 5.7% in that time.
The annual rate of underlying inflation, which measures the rise in prices without counting energy or food, stood at 4.8%.
In monthly terms, energy prices rose six tenths and food prices only one tenth. The underlying rise was only two tenths, the lowest since August 2021.
The significant drop in inflation will be one of the data to be taken into account by the Federal Reserve (Fed), which in two weeks begins a new meeting of its Open Market Committee to decide on interest rates.
Although rates were not raised at their previous meeting, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warned that a further rate hike was expected this next time to prevent the economy from overheating.
The labor market continues to be strong, and 209,000 net jobs were created in June, while the unemployment rate fell by one tenth to 3.6%.