Pressure on global supply chains eased in July

The New York Federal Reserve said Thursday that pressure on global supply chains eased in July, reaching its lowest level since January 2021, as congestion at ports and other obstacles eased; This is in the latest data for a global indicator related to supply problems.
The pressure eased for the third month in a row, in an encouraging sign for policy makers at the Federal Reserve, who are keen to ease supply chain problems to help tame inflation that has reached four-decade highs in the world’s largest economy.
The Federal Reserve’s Global Supply Chain Stress Index combines data on shipping costs, delivery times, delays and other statistics into a single metric and compares them to common standards.
The index has now fallen more than 50 percent from its highest level, which was recorded last December, but it is still well above the levels it was at before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The data is consistent with a survey published by the Institute for Supply Management earlier this week, which also showed an improvement in the speed of supplier delivery.
The supply chain problem has become a major issue in the global recovery from the Corona pandemic, and in the efforts of the Federal Reserve and other major central banks to curb inflation.
The supply chain problem worsened earlier in the year; China’s lockdown measures to tackle the spread of the coronavirus and the war in Ukraine have extended delivery times.
The US central bank and other central banks have already begun to raise interest rates more quickly in an attempt to curb demand for goods and services with the hope of solving the supply chain problem in order to achieve a better balance in economies.
(Archyde.com)