Trump says petrol and grocery prices are down. Facts say otherwise

Trump says petrol and grocery prices are down. Facts say otherwise

According to US President Donald Trump, housing, gas, and grocery costs are all declining. All of these assertions are unsupported by current research, though.

When asked about home sales and whether it was a good economic indicator for him on Thursday in the Oval Office, the president responded that there were very good housing sales.

However, the reporter who asked the question made reference to a report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which stated that sales of existing homes were down 5.9 percent in March from the same month.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a public statement that “residential housing mobility, which is currently at its lowest levels, indicates the troublesome possibility of lessening economic mobility for society.”

Trump mentioned that some states’ energy costs have decreased to $ 1.98. Although he did not specify what kind of energy, his comments were similar to those made last week. He specifically cited gasoline prices at the time.

The lowest average price per gallon ($0.71 per litre) last week in Mississippi was according to AAA, which monitors national gasoline prices. Mississippi reported the lowest average gasoline price this week, this time for $ 2.68 ($0.70 per litre). The lowest individual station prices, according to data from GasBuddy, were $2.33 per gallon (0.62 per litre), which is still higher than the president’s mention.

The average price of gasoline in the United States is currently $ 3.17 per gallon ($0.84 per litre). That is a decrease from $ 3.60 ($0.95 per litre) at this time last year, even though it is a five-cent increase over the previous month. The president made the correct observation that, despite what he had suggested, gasoline prices are still trending downward.

Overall energy prices decreased by 2.4 percent over the past month, largely as a result of the Department of Labor’s most recent report, which was largely driven by lower gasoline prices. The decline in natural gas and electricity costs was aided by the decrease. Since Trump’s election, oil prices have generally decreased, largely as a result of the uncertainty caused by Trump’s tariff threats.

Trump also claimed that prices are dropping for groceries in his comments. This assertion is disproven by recent research. Food prices increased by 0.4 percent from last month to $2.44 percent from last year, according to the Department of Labor. Four out of the six main grocery categories reported price increases.

Source: Aljazeera

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