ARKANSAS, USA — Gas prices and the cost of goods seem to be the items hitting Arkansans pockets the hardest lately. Gas prices have steadily climbed since January and grocery prices have risen along with them.
As COVID-19 cases seem to plummet and mask mandates are lifted, Americans are ready to return to normal. With normalcy comes a return to the economy and the biggest sign of normalcy making a comeback is inflation.
Increased prices are the result of companies still trying to play catch up. After two years, COVID-19 still has lasting effects on the supply chain.
Grocery stores are responding with hiked prices as demand is still high coming off of the pandemic. Experts say people were buying more supplies than demand could keep up with. Compared to last year, grocery prices are much higher.
The industry that's taking the hardest hit is oil, with gas prices 14 cents more than they were in January 2022.
Now with the uncertainty of the Russian attack on Ukraine, gas prices have skyrocketed.
“The increase in gas prices is largely due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. We know that Russia is a large producer of oil on a global scale and there’s a lot of uncertainty right now of where the oil markets will go now that Russia has invaded. The concern is one that Russia withholds oil from the global market," said Nick Chabarria with AAA.
Economists say there is hope consumers will adjust, and prices will plateau. Experts predict if circumstances take a right turn we could see that happen as soon as December. That can only happen if the Ukrainian-Russian conflict is resolved and COVID cases continue to drop.
“By the end of the year I think we could see inflation really coming back down then going into 2023 returning to your previous lowest levels the feds are trying to keep around 2%," said Jeff Cooperstein with the University of Arkansas Business School.
Even with inflation, AAA says Arkansas still ranks as one of the states with the lowest average gas prices.
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