Senior White House officials urged reporters to keep in mind some "important context" when reviewing the November Consumer Price Index report, set to be released Friday morning.

National Economic Council Director Brian Deese joined press secretary Jen Psaki at Thursday's White House briefing and explained that CPI handles backward-looking data, highlighting a number of positive points that won't be "reflected" in the November report. He specifically cited lower prices at the pump, decreasing the price of natural gas, and "real progress in unsticking some of the supply chain bottlenecks that have persisted in our economy."

BUSINESS ECONOMISTS EXPECT HIGH PRICES THROUGH 2023

"We never over-index on any one piece of data on or any one data release, but we're going to stay focused on what we can do to try to address these prices in the immediate term," he said.

However, Deese repeatedly declined to "predict or project" when inflation will decrease.

"I am not going to get into the prediction business other than to say, and I'll echo what I noted at the beginning, is that most outside independent forecasters continue to see price increases moderating and moderating meaningfully over the course of next year," Deese said when asked if consumers can expect prices to decrease next year. "I was noting on supply chains that there's actually now some reporting that the principal concern is on the back end of the holiday season, too much excess inventory, and people have over-ordered, and so, certainly these are not things that don't work themselves out overnight."

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You can watch Thursday's entire briefing below.