WASHINGTON, July 14 ― US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said yesterday that US prices remain too high and the Biden administration must do everything it can to bring them down, including promoting a price cap for Russian oil exports.
Adeyemo told CNBC in an interview that he believes that other countries will be “very interested” in the price cap idea now being discussed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen with G20 finance chiefs because it would further bring down their costs for energy.
Implementing an oil price cap is the “next step” in pressuring Russia to end its war in Ukraine, Adeyemo said.
“We want to allow that oil to flow because we want to see the oil prices come down so that our consumers pay less, but we also want to reduce the amount of revenue that Russia earns from selling oil in order to make sure they have less money to prop up their economy,” Adeyemo said.
If successful, the cap will force Russia to choose between propping up its economy and funding its war effort in Ukraine, he added.
Adeyemo's comments came after the latest US inflation data showed a 9.1 per cent increase in annual consumer prices in June, the highest since 1981 and acceleration from recent months that leaves the Federal Reserve almost certain to raise interest rates by another 3/4 percentage point at the end of July.
Asked if he was concerned about stagflation, Adeyemo said he was not worried about a return of the 1970s mix of weak growth and high inflation because of strong demand for goods and services and “underlying momentum in the American economy.”
“And that momentum is going to carry us forward and I think it puts us in a stronger position than any economy around the world to deal with the high inflation that we face today,” he said. ― Reuters
