Washington: US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (local time) said that inflation in the country is "unacceptably high" and bringing it down is his top economic priority.
"While it is heartening to see that annual inflation moderated in April, the fact remains that inflation is unacceptably high. As I said yesterday, inflation is a challenge for families across the country and bringing it down is my top economic priority," Biden said in a statement on Consumer Price Index in April. Biden noted that Federal Reserve plays a primary role in fighting inflation in the country and said that he is confident the Federal Reserve will do its job to lower the record-high inflation.
"Beyond the Fed, my inflation plan is focused on lowering the costs that families face and lowering the federal deficit," he added.
Biden's statement came after the Labor Department said that the consumer price index rose 8.3 per cent in April from a year ago, a sharp hike although slightly below the 8.5 per cent year-over-year surge recorded in March. Prices jumped 0.3 per cent in the one-month period from March, Fox News reported.
US President further said "Congressional Republicans talk about inflation, but their only plan is to raise taxes on working families, taking even more money out of their pockets. If they are serious about inflation, they should send me the bipartisan innovation bill to bolster our supply chains and make more in America, along with legislation that cuts costs and the cuts the deficit, reducing families' prescription drug and utility bills and restoring fairness to our tax code."
"We've made enormous progress in getting our economy back on track, and these measures would help us sustain this progress and bring prices down for families," he added.