In the post-Covid world, inflation has become the number one enemy of the regular people. As the pandemic waned, the economic halt started becoming more and more noticeable. And on the heels of that, the ongoing Ukraine war has made global economic conditions even worse.
Inflation rates have been breaking decade-old records worldwide, with consumer goods getting much more expensive. With relatively stagnant wages, that has caused major concern for the average person. Purchase carts have shrunk, with people’s buying power reducing drastically.
And while the crisis is by no means over, we may be seeing some signals of recovery. We still need to deal with numerous threats, such as waning energy resources and extremely overpriced housing, but inflation is slowing.
Namely, in the UK, inflation has dropped from a 41-year high. Naturally, that doesn’t mean the situation is solved, but it may be the inception of a positive outlook. After inflation rates in October soared to 11.1%, November saw a slight ease down to 10.7%.
There’s even more room for optimism when we look at year-on-year data. October saw a 2% rise compared to the same month the previous year, while November’s was only 0.4% up. That even beat estimates, which assumed a rise of about 0.6%. The biggest contributors to the improvement were reducing oil and gas prices.
Across the lake, the Fed also announced that it would be increasing interest rates by only half a point. Of course, that isn’t quite the reduction most people are looking for, but it is a sign that inflation is slowing. The half-point hike follows numerous three-quarter point raises earlier during the year. The US is currently struggling with the worse inflation rates it’s seen since the 1980s. It remains to be seen whether the positive trends will continue into December and the new year.
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