Gas prices: 'Prices are coming down,' says Biden official
Despite the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate surging 9.1% in June, White House officials expect sticker prices, including gas prices, to decline as the administration tries to combat inflation.
Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, told Yahoo Finance that the recent CPI report indicating an energy price hike of 41% did not reflect July's easing prices. "The numbers that came out [Wednesday, July 13], are outdated in the sense that they don't reflect the significant decline in oil prices and gas prices that we've seen."
Gas prices continued to dip this week as the nation's average dropped $0.38s to $4.63 per gallon on Thursday compared to a month ago. Deese said the fall reflects a steady downward trend in energy costs since early July. "Prices are coming down. They [gas costs] are down 40 cents nationwide. There are about 10,000 gas stations around the country where gas is now under $4 a gallon."
However, Deese emphasized that prices are still too high across the board and recognized that "we [Biden administration] need to keep acting urgently to bring prices down."
Global oil supply
Deese said the Biden administration is prioritizing efforts to decompress crude prices by working to stabilize a supply chain that was disrupted by the Russian oil ban.
"From our perspective, we're focused on doing what we can to keep that dynamic going. That's about increasing global supply. That's what the president was focused on with the G7 in trying to work toward what we refer to as a price cap on Russian oil. That would maintain stability in the global supply of oil while really focusing the economic pain on Vladimir Putin," he said.
Deese also touted the administration's release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and its call on Congress to to pass a gas-tax holiday. Some critics, however, say the release of 1 million barrels per day is a drop in the bucket and gas-tax relief is unlikely to pass.
"These are all things we're focused on. We're moving on. But the goal is to try to keep that momentum going because, as you say, a lot of things are important, but the fact that gas prices have now come down 30 days in a row, that is important for a lot of people across this country," he added.
Rebecca Chen is a writer and reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @RebeccaChenP
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