Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says Americans will likely see another year of ‘very uncomfortably high’ inflation

The Treasury Secretary said Thursday that Americans will likely see another year of inflation that is very uncomfortably high, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine complicates her previous forecast that price acceleration would moderate in the months ahead.

There is a lot of uncertainty about what is going on with Russia in Ukraine.

I think that it is making inflation worse. I don't want to make a prediction about what will happen in the second half of the year.

Hours after the Labor Department published its latest gauge of how fast prices are climbing for American consumers, the Treasury secretary commented. Consumer prices rose 7.9% in the 12 month period ending in February, the hottest pace of inflation since 1982.

The remarks come just months after she told CNBC that she expected inflation to moderate towards the end of 2022, as supply-chain hiccup resolved and met fiery consumer demand for goods.

She wasn't willing to make a similar forecast on Thursday. The price of crude oil and wheat have gone up because of uncertainty caused by Russia's attack on Ukraine.

The price of West Texas oil for April delivery jumped to nearly $130 a barrel on Tuesday as the price of crude oil leaped to multiyear highs. It was last trading around $105 a barrel on Thursday.

The price is still up from three months ago.

We have seen a significant increase in gas prices and I think we will see more evidence of an impact in the US next month.

Russia and Ukraine are major producers of wheat.

The Biden administration's economic sanctions against Moscow have deprived the country of its access to U.S. dollars and blocked access to a significant portion of the global banking system.

The amount of sanctions against Russia has been overwhelming and she continues to consult with her counterparts around the world on how to intensify them.

The sanctions have had a devastating impact on the economy.

The export controls that we have put in place will have a devastating effect on the Russian economy because they need the technology to run a modern economy and advance in defense and other areas. I think there will be a downturn in the Russian economy.