Inflation Heat: Canada’s Consumer Price Index Hits 2.5% in March
Statistics Canada says the annual rate of inflation jumped more than half a percentage point to 2.4 per cent in March as the war in Iran sent fuel costs soaring.
The agency says March’s 21.2 per cent monthly increase in the price of gasoline was the largest on record.
Economists were expecting a slightly higher inflation reading for March after Iran’s move to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks sent global oil prices skyrocketing in recent weeks.
StatCan says inflation would have been 2.2 per cent in March if gasoline was taken out of the equation.
Food inflation, meanwhile, cooled to four per cent from 5.4 per cent in February as the lingering effects of the federal government’s two-month “tax holiday” a year earlier fell out of the annual comparisons.
Fresh vegetable prices jumped 7.8 per cent year-over-year in March, which StatCan chalked up to recent tough growing conditions for cucumbers, peppers and celery.
The Bank of Canada will be paying close attention to the inflation figures as it prepares for its next interest rate decision on April 29.
This article was first reported by The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
