Biden administration braces for 'extraordinarily elevated' inflation in March consumer price report

The Biden administration is bracing for the release Tuesday of the federal government's Consumer Price Index report for October, which is expected show another record high increases in the costs of goods for Americans.

Analysts project the rate of inflation over 12 months ending March was 8.4% – the fastest year-over-year inflation since December 1981. The rate is also expected to surpass the year-over-year increase of 7.9% in February, which set a 40-year high.

Economists also forecast that from February to March, consumer prices jumped 1.1%, the sharpest month-to-month jump since 2005, according to the Associated Press. 

The White House is blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war on Ukraine, particularly for rising gas and food prices, and says that because of recent administration actions the U.S. is now better positioned to protect from runaway inflation than it was roughly seven weeks ago when the war started. 

"Because of the actions we’ve taken to address the Putin price hike, we are in a better place than we were last month," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.

"But we expect the March ... CPI headline to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin's price hike," she said. "We expect a large difference between core and headline inflation reflecting the global disruptions in energy and food markets."

While the average cost of a gallon of regular gas has gone down from its record high last month, it still costs $4.11, over a dollar more than it cost one year ago, according to AAA.

The average American family is expected to spend an extra $5,200 this year compared to 2021 due to inflation, Bloomberg reported.