Ottawa/CMEDIA: Annual changes in gas prices and persistent pressure at the grocery store caused Canada’s Inflation to jump higher in Sept, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
Last month annual inflation accelerated to 2.4 percent, higher than economists expected, with a jump of half a percentage point from 1.9 percent in Aug.
The removal of the consumer carbon price led the gasoline prices to continue to fall year-over-year.
Consumers are meanwhile facing challenges at the grocery store with fresh vegetable prices rising 1.9 percent annually in Sep after a decline in Aug.
Since a recent low in April 2024, sugar and confectioners costs increased from previous month’s 5.8 percent to the 9.2 percent
Annual price hikes at the grocery store have largely trended higher, StatCan noted due to short supplies of beef and coffee, the agency said.
A rare month-over-month price gain was seen in travel tours Sept due to higher costs for hotels tied to major events in Europe and some parts of the United States.
There has been a national rent price increase of 4.8 percent year over year in Sept, up from 4.5 per cent in August.
The inflation report in Sept will be the deciding factor for Bank of Canada’s last look at price data before the central bank’s next interest rate decision on Oct. 29.
“Suffice it to say, this will make the Bank of Canada’s decision a bit more interesting next week than previously expected — markets had been all but baking in a rate cut,” wrote Douglas Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal, in a note to clients.
