Zambia Inflation Slows to 11-Month Low as Food Prices Ease
Consumer prices rose 15.3% in May compared with 16.5% in April, Chief Statistician Chola Daka told reporters on Thursday in Lusaka, the capital.
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Job gains could continue until there were more obvious signs of rising prices. As the pandemic threw millions out of work, Powell at the Jackson Hole forum in 2020 spoke about the Fed's "appreciation for the benefits of a strong labor market, particularly for many in low- and moderate-income communities," and described a new strategy that "reflects our view that a robust job market can be sustained without causing an outbreak of inflation." The approach added to an emerging Republican critique of a "woke" Fed that downgraded price control to address income inequality. But it also was true to what the data suggested in the 2010s, and again more recently when the unemployment rate fell to very low levels even as inflation declined, defying many mainstream economists' predictions that high unemployment would be needed to lower inflation from its peak in 2022. Though the Fed's two congressionally mandated goals of stable inflation and maximum employment are considered equally important, Powell has begun using a formulation in which stable inflation is described as necessary for the job market to reach its potential - an approach that would let the Fed justify steps to fight inflation as still consistent with its employment goals. "Without price stability, we cannot achieve the long periods of strong labor market conditions that benefit all Americans," Powell said at the press conference following the Fed's July meeting. Meade said that harkens back to an approach former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan used to try to balance the two sometimes conflicting priorities, even if the understanding of how low unemployment does or does not influence inflation has changed. "You achieve price stability and that lays the groundwork for maximum employment...I do think Powell found his way back to that framing," Meade said. "You have to get to price stability first and that is in the front part of their brains." Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
