Canada\u2019s inflation rate ticked higher in September, marking the first acceleration in headline inflation since May. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.4% year over year, up from 1.9% in August, according to Statistics Canada\u2019s latest report (1).<\/p>\n
The jump reflects a slower decline in gasoline and travel prices, alongside renewed upward pressure on groceries. Excluding gas, inflation rose 2.6%, up from 2.4% the previous month \u2014 a sign that underlying price pressures remain sticky.<\/p>\n
Consumers paid 4% more for groceries than they did a year earlier, driven largely by higher prices for fresh vegetables, sugar and confectionery. StatCan noted that food inflation has trended upward since April, with fresh or frozen beef and coffee leading the gains amid tight supply.<\/p>\n
Shelter costs \u2014 the largest component of the CPI basket \u2014 continued to climb, up 2.6% year over year, while rent rose 4.8% nationally.<\/p>\n
StatCan said faster rent growth in Quebec, particularly in Montr\u00e9al, was offset by slower increases in British Columbia. Prince Edward Island was the only province to record a decline in rent prices, down 2.2%.<\/p>\n
Gasoline prices, meanwhile, fell 4.1% year over year, compared with a 12.7% drop in August. The smaller decline stems from what Statistics Canada calls a \u201cbase-year effect\u201d \u2014 along with refinery disruptions in the U.S. and Canada that pushed pump prices higher last month.<\/p>\n
Read more: Are you drowning in debt? Here are 3 simple strategies to help crush your balance to $0<\/a> in no time<\/p>\n Despite the acceleration, inflation remains within the Bank of Canada\u2019s 1%\u20133% target range, though it now sits above the midpoint that policymakers typically view as ideal.<\/p>\n \u201cFood prices are volatile in Canada, so I wouldn\u2019t read too much into the one-month change,\u201d said Nathan Janzen, assistant chief economist at RBC, in an interview with CBC News (2). \u201cBut food price growth has been sticky, and I don\u2019t know that we can blame it all on tariffs. This has been a persistent phenomenon in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n RBC economist Abbey Xu said in an emailed statement to Global News that, while inflation has edged up, \u201cmost of the increase was driven by temporary factors such as slower gasoline declines and seasonal travel price shifts (3).\u201d Xu added that core inflation \u2014 which strips out volatile items \u2014 \u201ccontinues to show gradual improvement,\u201d suggesting inflation pressures are broadly easing.<\/p>\n The September CPI release is the final inflation update before the Bank of Canada\u2019s October 29 interest rate decision. Economists say the data complicates expectations for another rate cut, especially after a stronger-than-expected September jobs report.<\/p>\n Still, most forecasters expect inflation to cool again in the months ahead as energy base effects fade and demand moderates. \u201cIf you\u2019re the central bank, you\u2019re not just looking at what inflation is right now \u2014 you\u2019re looking at what you think it will be in the future,\u201d Janzen told CBC.<\/p>\n We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Statistics Canada (1<\/a>);CBC News (2<\/a>); Global News (3<\/a>)<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on Money.ca<\/a> under the title: Grocery and rent costs push Canada\u2019s inflation rate up to 2.4% in September<\/a><\/p>\n This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s inflation rate ticked higher in September, marking the first acceleration in headline inflation since May. The Consumer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,275,219,26443,26442,111,139,69,4068],"class_list":{"0":"post-117907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-gasoline-prices","12":"tag-headline-inflation","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-statistics-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}