Southeastern executives expect moderate inflation
ATLANTA — Business executives across the Southeast expect that inflation will be 1.9 percent over the next 12 months, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
The representatives of 237 firms, who were questioned July 7-11, reported that they have seen a 1.8 percent average increase in the unit cost of purchases they make for their companies compared to prices a year ago.
Also, fewer of them said their own sales were what they consider normal for their own companies. About 54 percent said sales were at or above normal, a decrease of 3 percentage points from what the portion declaring normal conditions last month.
“However, profit margins showed slight improvement, with roughly 49 percent of respondents indicating their profit margins are at or above normal, compared to 44 percent in June,” the authors of the survey wrote.
Morris News Service