Lower energy prices help keep annual inflation rate at a cool 1.3% in March
Posted Apr 22, 2016 09:34:16 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – Inflation in Canada remained cool last month at 1.3 per cent as stubbornly low energy prices continued to weigh down the annual rate.
The March inflation reading from Statistics Canada followed a 1.4 per cent year-over-year increase in February.
The agency’s latest consumer price index says its headline inflation rate remained below the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target, largely due to a drop in prices for gasoline, fuel oil and natural gas.
Those downward forces countered higher prices for shelter and food _ particularly for fresh vegetables and fresh fruit.
The core inflation rate, which excludes some of the most volatile items such as pump prices, rose to 2.1 per cent last month after a 1.9 per cent reading in February.
Inflation was lower in eight provinces in March compared with the previous month, leaving Alberta and British Columbia as the only ones that saw a higher rate.
