Warren Buffett said on Saturday that inflation “swindles almost everybody” and that it was “extraordinary” how much inflation had been seen in Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s own businesses.
Inflation has surged in the United States, hitting a new 40-year annualised high of 6.6 percent in March, and US Federal Reserve policymakers appear set to deliver a series of aggressive interest rate hikes to cool prices.
Berkshire noted cost increases in some of its businesses when it reported earnings.
Geico, the auto insurer, posted an underwriting loss in the first quarter because loss claims rose as used vehicle prices and parts surged higher.
“Inflation swindles the bond investor… it swindles the person who keeps their cash under their mattress, it swindles almost everybody,” Buffett said.