the

flects the elevated price trajectory impacting most sectors of the economy. The Riverside metro area hasn't recorded a comparable inflationary pattern since the local CPI was first published in 2018, data showed.

The accelerating consumer price hikes have been blamed by the Biden administration on the war in Ukraine and consequent energy supply disruptions, but critics have pointed to the administration's restrictive domestic energy policies, as well as excessive spending, including the flood of dollars contained in relief packages, as root causes.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged during congressional testimony in June that inflation is the "top economic problem" facing the nation and that it would not be "transitory," as she and Federal Reserve Bank Chair Jerome Powell had initially predicted.