But he has repeatedly cited the statistic while wrongly suggesting that the inflation rate is now “way down” from when he took office. As of Aug. 5, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland projected a minimal monthly increase in the inflation rate for July – not another monthly rate decrease. The decline in energy prices was the primary reason for the drop in the inflation rate that Trump praised. Energy prices, however, are also the reason that the decline in the month-to-month inflation rate may not last long. When oil and gasoline prices went up in March, April and May, the inflation rate increased.