Although inflation has considerably decreased in other areas of the economy, persistent inflationary pressures in the US economy have kept food prices high.
which is defined as food purchased from a store and prepared at home, increased 11.3% from the previous year.
The overall inflation rate, which was 6.4% year over year as of January and was down from a 40-year peak of 9.1% in June 2022,
is significantly higher than that amount. Low-income and fixed-income families are particularly hard-hit by the rising cost of consumables.
Even with the 8.7% cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA), which went into effect in January 2023 and is the greatest since 1981 and
increased the average monthly benefit by roughly $140, Social Security recipients still have less money available for groceries than they did a year earlier.
Notwithstanding the Federal Reserve's interest rate increases, which are meant to gradually lower inflation to the Fed's goal rate of 2%,
inflation may nonetheless linger in the economy. Following an unexpected fall of 0.1% in the December reading,