Biden blames rising global prices on "Putin's invasion of Ukraine."
Key Takeaways:
- President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, has blamed Vladimir Putin of Russia for the global rise in gas and food prices.
President of the USA, Joe Biden, has blamed Russia's Vladimir Putin for the global rise in gas and food prices. The war in Ukraine is now on its 38th day, following Moscow's surprise offensive on February 24. "The invasion of Ukraine by Putin has pushed up gas and food prices worldwide.
To help with this, I authorized the release of 1 million barrels per day from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve for the upcoming six months yesterday. "On Saturday, the US president posted a message on Twitter.
As he announced the discharge of 1 million barrels of oil every day from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve to combat rising gas prices, Biden said it was unclear how much gasoline prices might fall as a result of his decision but that it could be "anywhere around 10 cents to 35 cents a gallon."
"The bottom line is that we need more oil supply right now if we want lower gas prices. This is a moment of global significance and peril, as well as pain at the gas pump for American families, "In a White House statement, he was quoted as saying.
The new chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, said on Thursday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had delivered a "significant shock" to the global economy, which will make it difficult for policymakers to control inflation without stifling growth. Gourinchas, on the other hand, believes the United States is not yet in a recession.
Bloomberg quoted him saying, "We're not looking at a recessionary environment in the United States shortly." "We're seeing a slowdown in growth, but we're still in positive territory."
According to a senior US Treasury official, Russia is being driven into recession and is reverting to a closed economy due to crippling sanctions imposed by the West.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has announced an additional USD 300 million in security aid to Ukraine, following the war-torn country's request for more advanced weaponry from the US as well as European countries to counter the Russian invasion. Switchblade suicide drones, Anti-drone systems, Armoured vehicles, Night-vision equipment, and Ammunition are among the items included in the new package.
As per the statement from Pentagon press secretary John Kirby, the US has committed over USD 2.3 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the start of the Biden administration.