OTTAWA – Canada’s annual inflation rate dipped to 2.8 percent in August from 3.0 percent in July, the seventh consecutive month it has exceeded the Bank of Canada’s 2.0 percent target, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday.
The rate matched the forecast of analysts in a Reuters poll. The central bank said this month the inflation rate should move back toward 2 percent in early 2019 as the effects of past increases in gasoline prices dissipated.
Statscan’s data showed that gasoline prices had increased by 19.9 percent over August 2017, down from the 25.4 percent year-over-year jump in July.
The price of non-durable goods also increased at a more moderate pace, climbing by 3.8 percent from August 2017 compared with 4.4 percent in July.
All of the central bank’s core inflation measures were 2.0 percent or higher, for the first time since February 2012. CPI common, which the bank says is the best gauge of the economy’s underperformance, rose to 2.0 percent from 1.9 percent.
