Statistics
Canada reported on Tuesday the country’s consumer price index (CPI) was unchanged m-o-m in January 2024,
following an unrevised 0.3 per cent m-o-m drop in the previous month.
On a y-o-y
basis, Canada’s inflation rate demonstrated a 2.9 per cent gain last month, decelerating sharply
from an unrevised 3.4 per cent gain in December 2023. This was the lowest annual inflation rate since June 2023 (+2.8 per cent).
Economists had predicted
inflation would rise by 0.4 per cent m-o-m and 3.3 per cent y-o-y in January.
According to
the report, the headline CPI’s January flat m-o-m performance reflected
increases in 5 of all 8 major components, including alcoholic beverages,
tobacco products and recreational cannabis (+1.1 per cent m-o-m), household
operations, furnishings and equipment (+0.8 per cent m-o-m), food (+0.7 per
cent m-o-m), health and personal care (+0.7 per cent m-o-m), and shelter (+0.3
per cent m-o-m), which were offset by declines in the remaining three components
such as clothing and footwear (-3.2 per cent m-o-m), transportation (-1.2 per
cent m-o-m) and recreation, education and reading (-0.6 per cent m-o-m).
Meanwhile, the trimmed-mean
CPI – the preferred measure of core inflation of the Bank of Canada - jumped
3.4 per cent y-o-y in January, following an unrevised 3.7 per cent y-o-y climb in December.
This marked the softest annual advance since August 2021 (+3.3 per cent y-o-y). Economists had forecast a surge of 3.6 per cent y-o-y.