The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the rate of inflation continued to rise in the month of March, growing faster than it did in the month of February and roughly lining up with expectations.

As ABC News reports, consumer prices rose to 3.5% in March compared to 3.2% in February, thus reversing some of the previous declines over the last two years. While inflation is currently lower than its peak of 9%, it still remains higher than the Federal Reserve’s current target rate of 2%. Among the primary causes of the ongoing inflation crisis are surges in the price of housing and gasoline, which accounted for half of all current inflation. Core inflation rose 3.8% year-over-year.

One of the areas that saw consistent drops in pricing were key grocery items, particularly with regards to breakfast food: The cost of breakfast cereal fell by over 1% compared to last year, as did the prices of rice and pasta; the cost of breakfast sausage and ham fell by 4%, while apple prices decreased by 10%.

But some prices have continued to increase in that time, with the cost of beef rising by more than double the pace of overall inflation in the last year.

Last month, the Fed held a meeting where it decided to maintain rates at the current range of 5.25% and 5.5%, which remains the highest such level since 2001.

“On inflation, it’s too soon to say whether the recent readings represent more than just a bump,” said Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week. “Given the strength of the economy and progress on inflation so far, we have time to let the incoming data guide our decisions on policy.”

Powell also cited public opinion as key to combating inflation, saying that “the public does believe — and it’s a good thing, because it’s true — that inflation will go back down to 2%. That’s very reassuring but that’s partly because of the very strong action we took and also because of our ongoing commitment to actually return inflation to 2% over time.”

However, business leaders have spoken out against the Fed’s current plan for dealing with inflation. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has warned that the final stretch in the government’s fight against inflation could be further complicated by such factors as government spending and global trading stocks.