In this first episode, they look at what the latest data is telling us about how the Iran war economy is affecting the cost of living and where things might be headed next.
“Food prices haven’t started to rise yet,” Parker said.
“It’s costing more to truck food around the country. It’s costing more to bring food into the country on ships.
“Then obviously, longer term, there’s the issue of fertiliser as well. The cost of growing food is going to go up, so we’re going to see these costs come through for a long time yet.”
People felt like the cost-of-living crisis never went away, Dann said.
“But when you dig into the data, the big drivers of inflation have been things like rates and power prices, fixed prices.
“[Whereas] the last few months have probably seen the lowest level of food price inflation we’ve had for years.”
Food price inflation peaked at about 12.5% a year in mid-2023 and has tracked slowly downwards since. It was down to 3.4% by March this year.
“So there’s been a stable patch at the supermarket and, unfortunately, that might be all too brief,” Dann said.
“Blink and you missed it.”
Parker and Dann also dive into the big disconnect between Wall Street (as shares hit new record highs) and the gloomy economic outlook.
To hear the full podcast listen here:
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