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THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
                        (Camp David, Maryland)

For Immediate Release July 18, 2000 STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MARTIN N. BAILY

                    STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MARTIN N BAILY
                  PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS

Today's report on consumer prices, combined with last week's report on producer prices, shows that inflation remains low and stable, except for the temporary effect of higher energy prices.

While Americans are still feeling the effects of the run-up in oil prices, the core CPI - which excludes the volatile food and energy components - rose just 0.2 percent in June. The total CPI rose 3.7 percent over the 12 months ending in June, but core CPI rose just 2.4 percent over that period - within the levels of the past three years.

Gasoline prices rose 8.8 percent in June, driving the overall CPI up 0.6 percent. Once the impact of high energy prices has passed, we can expect a return to low and stable inflation and rising wages.

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