August Inflation Accelerates, Raising New Concerns for Black and Minority-Owned Businesses

WASHINGTON - EntSun -- The August Consumer Price Index shows renewed inflation pressure that could disproportionately affect Black and minority-owned businesses, according to an analysis by Creative Investment Research (CIR).

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that CPI increased 0.4 percent in August, compared with just 0.1 percent in July. Annual inflation remained at 3.4 percent, while core CPI increased 0.3 percent during the month.

The underlying numbers are considerably less reassuring than the stable 3.4 percent annual headline suggests.

Energy prices increased 2.1 percent in August, while gasoline jumped 3.9 percent and is now 27.4 percent higher than a year ago. BLS reported that gasoline accounted for more than one-third of the overall monthly CPI increase. The cost of transportation services also increased.

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"The 3.4 percent headline number does not tell the whole story," said William Michael Cunningham, economist and founder of Creative Investment Research. "Monthly inflation quadrupled from July to August, energy prices rose sharply. Diesel and gasoline costs continue to impose significant pressure on businesses. For many minority firms, the inflation rate they are actually experiencing may be considerably higher than the national CPI."

The August CPI follows a Producer Price Index showing producer prices rising 0.4 percent in August and 5.4 percent over the past year, adding to concerns about costs moving through the business supply chain.

CIR emphasized that CPI measures consumer prices rather than the operating costs of Minority Business Enterprises. Minority-owned transportation companies, restaurants, contractors, retailers and service businesses can face very different combinations of fuel, food, rent, insurance, labor, utilities and financing costs.

"This is not an allegation that BLS is manipulating the CPI," Cunningham said. "It is a warning against allowing one relatively benign topline statistic to obscure what is happening underneath it. The August monthly data clearly show renewed inflation pressure."

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Creative Investment Research has created the MBE Inflation Index at mbeinflationindex.com that measures the actual cost pressures facing minority businesses by industry and geography.

The firm also argues that MBEs should be considered part of the solution to inflation. Expanding minority supplier participation can increase competition, diversify sourcing, reduce supplier concentration and strengthen regional supply chains.

"Supplier diversity is not simply a diversity strategy," Cunningham said. "It is a supply-chain resilience, competition and inflation-management strategy. Minority Business Enterprises can be inflation-reducing supply-chain partners."

For more, see: https://www.impactinvesting.online/2026/09/august-cpi-inflation-accelerates.html