Statistics
Canada announced on Tuesday the country’s consumer price index (CPI) rose
0.3 per cent m-o-m in February,
following an unrevised flat m-o-m performance
in the previous month. This marked the strongest monthly rise in CPI since August 2023 (+0.4 per cent
m-o-m).
On a y-o-y
basis, however, Canada’s inflation rate demonstrated a 2.8 per cent jump last
month, decelerating
slightly from an unrevised 2.9 per cent advance in January. This represented the weakest annual inflation rate since June 2023 (+2.8 per cent).
Economists had forecast
inflation would climb by 0.6 per cent m-o-m and 3.1 per cent y-o-y in February.
According to
the report, the February monthly rise in the headline CPI reflected gains in 5 of all
8 major components, driven by transportation (+0.7 per cent m-o-m), which, in its turn, primarily reflected an increase in gasoline prices (+4.0 per cent
m-o-m). These
gains, however, were partly offset by decreases in clothing and footwear (-1.1
per cent m-o-m), household operations, furnishings and equipment and (-0.2 per
cent m-o-m) and alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and recreational cannabis(-0.1
per cent m-o-m).
Meanwhile, the trimmed-mean
CPI – the preferred measure of core inflation of the Bank of Canada - surged
3.2 per cent y-o-y in February, following an unrevised 3.4 per cent y-o-y soar in January.
This was the smallest annual gain since July 2021 (+3.1 per cent y-o-y).