By the end of December last year, the consumer price index in the United States grew by 7 percent, inflation turned out to be a record for 40 years. According to the Wall Street Journal, the annual increase was maximum since 1982.
The price increases the influence of the new Omicron-strain of coronavirus. The basic consumer price index (excluding food and energy prices) increased by 5.5 percent year in annual terms and 0.6 percent compared with the previous month.
Previously, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that countries with a developing economy, including Russia, may encounter problems if the US Federal Reserve (Fed) increase interest rates and will turn the incentive program. Now some countries have already begun to adjust the monetary policy and are preparing to reduce budget support to solve the problem of debt growth and inflation.
The influence of the Omicron strain forced analysts to revise their forecasts regarding the restoration of the American economy. According to the consulting company Pantheon MacroeConomics, in the first quarter of the 2022th US GDP will increase by 3 percent instead of the expected 5 percent. In turn, Moody’s Analytics reduced its forecast from 5.2 percent to 2.2 percent.