Statistics
Canada announced on Tuesday the country’s consumer price index (CPI) increased
0.3 per cent m-o-m in March,
following an unrevised 1.1
per cent m-o-m climb in the previous month.
On a y-o-y
basis, Canada’s inflation rate surged by 2.3 per cent last month, easing from an unrevised 2.6 per cent in February. This
was the first deceleration in the annual rate in three months.
Economists had expected
the CPI would rise 0.6 per cent m-o-m and 2.6 per cent y-o-y in March.
According to
the report, the March slowdown in the headline annual inflation was driven by
lower prices for travel tours and gasoline. At the same time, the end
of the temporary break on the Goods and Services Tax (GST)/Harmonized Sales Tax
(HST) on February 15, which put upward pressure on prices for eligible products
in March compared with February, moderated the all-items CPI deceleration.
Meanwhile, the
monthly increase in the headline CPI reflected gains in 5 of all 8
major items, led by alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and recreational
cannabis (+2.3 per cent m-o-m), food (+1.7 per cent m-o-m), and clothing and
footwear (+1.6 per cent m-o-m). These rises were partly offset by declines in
such components as recreation, education and reading (-0.8 per cent m-o-m), transportation
(-0.3 per cent m-o-m), and household operations, furnishings and equipment (-0.3
per cent m-o-m).
The trimmed-mean CPI - the preferred measure of core
inflation of the Bank of Canada (BoC) - gained 2.8 per cent y-o-y
in March, following an unrevised 2.9 per cent
y-o-y advance in February. Economists had forecast a jump of 3.0
per cent y-o-y.