Hello and welcome to Business Weekly with me, Sasha Twining.

On this edition, we'll hear from Kazakhstan.

The country has been rocked by violent protests sparked by the rising price of fuel.

Although demonstrations now appear to have been quashed by the government, we'll hear how

there is still economic uncertainty, both within the country and for those investing from outside.

Plus, we'll hear from the UK medical trials, where researchers say hallucinogenic drugs appear to

successfully fight depression.

But we're going to start with the United States and its inflation rate,

because the official annual figure this week hit 7%,

and that's the highest it's been since 1982.

For the average American, it means things are getting more expensive.

Some items more so than others.

For example, motor fuel is up 50% on a year ago.

Used cars and trucks are 37% higher.

Jane Chaber lives in New York State and told us about her experiences out shopping.

It's especially noticeable in the grocery stores. I would say meat has made the biggest jump.

The price of beef has, in some cases, doubled or more. And then everything seems to have gone up 10%, 15%. so does that mean that you choose not to buy that extra

something once in a while because you've already spent $100 when that's your weekly budget

and you say, well, I've spent that.

So I'm just going to be more frugal with whatever else I'm doing, especially with the holidays. My food budget was

way higher than I had anticipated. The cost of going out to eat has gone up because they're paying

the restaurant workers more, and even fast food has gone up considerably because now they're

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