FARGO (KFGO) – The average gas price in Fargo has dropped to $3.03 a gallon according to AAA. At a number of stations in town, it’s dropped below $3.
Jared Bernstein is a member of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisors. He tells KFGO News that trend is being seen across the region.
“In Minnesota and North Dakota, the average gas prices are both around $3.15 a gallon. That’s below the national average, which is $3.32 right now,” he says.
Bernstein says that price is now back down to where it was a year ago, and less than what it was when Russia invaded Ukraine.
“What I think is pretty important is that the rate at which the gas prices are coming down is pretty sharp in both North Dakota and Minnesota – both states are down about 12 cents over the last week and 50 cents over the last month,” he said.
Bernstein says while there’s still work to do, including lowering inflation, North Dakota and Minnesota have good economic momentum going.
“With the very low unemployment rate – Minnesota at 2.1%, North Dakota at 2.3%, these are among the lowest rates in the country – we think those are pretty favorable economic conditions for folks out there,” he says.
Bernstein attributes the steep price drops to the rolling release of oil from strategic reserves authorized by President Biden several months ago, which boosted global supply, and more recently, the cap the global markets put on the price of Russian oil, which keeps it available on the market but deprives Putin of revenues to fund his war versus Ukraine.
