For the first time in ten months, Canada’s inflation rate rose.
Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index Report for April said inflation was 4.4 per cent, a slight increase from 4.3 per cent in March.
The agency said higher rental and mortgage interest rate costs contributed to much of the increase, but the price of gas also accelerated.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Teresa J. Cleveland. Labeled for reuse on Google images.
Those who applied for a new mortgage or renewed an existing one paid 0.7 per cent more than they would have in March. The report suggested that may have driven up rent by 6.1 per cent. Overall, shelter cost consumers 4.9 per cent more than a year ago.
At the gas pumps, an announcement from the Oil Producing Exporting Countries, or OPEC, last month that it was cutting oil output and switching to summer gas accelerated prices by 6.3 per cent, the biggest monthly increase since last October.
The good news for drivers is gas is 7.7 per cent cheaper than in April 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was the driving force behind increases.
The price of natural gas decelerated. That cost increased 0.9 per cent after March’s 13.4 jump for all of Canada. Lower delivery fees accounted for the slowdown.
At the grocery store, Statistics Canada said food prices were up 9.1 per cent in April after March’s 9.7 per cent jump.
A woman wearing a face covering shops for groceries. File photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / Kzenon
The cost of fresh vegetables still rose 8.8 per cent, but that was some relief after March’s 10.8 per cent acceleration. Coffee and tea went up 6.4 per cent from a year ago. Those prices rose 11.1 per cent in March.
The slowdown may have been more pronounced had the cost of fresh fruit, spurred by a 12 per cent jump in the price of oranges, didn’t rise 8.3 per cent.
Rising inflation has been the prevailing rationale behind the Bank of Canada’s decisions to hike its key lending rate. The next update is on June 7.
Canada is not the only G7 nation that saw inflation rise in April.
Italy, France, and Japan’s rates all rose last month. In Italy, it was 8.2 per cent, up sixth-tenths of a percentage point. France’s rate ticked upwards 0.2 per cent to 5.9 per cent, and Japan’s rate went from 4 per cent in March to 4.3 per cent.
The April inflation rate in the U.S. was 4.9 per cent and 7.2 in Germany.
The United Kingdom will release its inflation rate for April on May 24.
The Consumer Price Index Report for May will be released on June 27.
