Putin’s Ukraine move makes it harder to tame US inflation
US policymakers already dealing with inflation stuck at 40-year highs now have another challenge added to their list: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
What happens a world away can affect American consumers’ pocketbooks because Russia is a major global producer of oil: If sanctions or strife put a crimp in Russia’s spigot to the world, that could send oil prices sharply higher.
Those higher energy prices would hit the pocketbooks of everyday Americans already struggling with inflation that recently logged a 7.5% rise from last year. And they also could complicate the picture for the Federal Reserve, whose officials already have signaled they’ll be increasing key interest rates to try to cool down rising prices.
Now, those officials might have to move more quickly — and at a greater pace than previously expected, an economic analyst told The Post.
“Even before the Russian invasion, the…
