Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in April to hit an annual increase of 4.9 percent, according to inflation data released Wednesday by the Labor Department. That’s the lowest annual inflation rate since April 2021.

The consumer price index (CPI), which measures everything consumers spend money on from rent to gasoline, showed inflation accelerating slightly in April, in line with expectations but falling on an annual basis.

Economists had been expecting prices to accelerate by 0.4 percent in April, up from 0.1 percent in March, and projected annual inflation to hold steady at a 5 percent.

Inflation has been falling somewhat steadily since the middle of last year, when prices topped out at a 9.1-percent annual increase in June.

The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates ten times in consecutive meetings since last March to bring down inflation in one of the fastest cycles of quantitative tightening on record.

Inflation started going up initially in 2021 because of backed-up supply chains, a rush of pent-up consumer demand and the gradual adjustment to life after COVID-19 lockdowns.

Prices stayed elevated because of an energy shock related to the war in Ukraine that has now mostly subsided, as well as the increased power of companies to keep prices high.

New York Fed President John Williams said the central bank’s rate-setting committee could continue with interest rate hikes later this year.

“We haven’t said we’re done raising rates. We made a decision in our May meeting to raise the federal funds target range … and we didn’t make a decision [about] what we’re going to do in our future meetings,” he said during a presentation at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday.