The country’s annual inflation rate eased to 2.8 per cent in August as still-rising gasoline prices advanced at a more-moderate pace.
Statistics Canada’s latest number came in just below a three per cent reading in July that had pushed inflation to the top end of the Bank of Canada’s target range with the fastest price growth in seven years. The August result matched the expectations of economists, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.
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The Statistics Canada report says year-over-year pump prices rose 19.9 per cent in August, compared with a 25.4 per cent increase in July. Excluding gas prices, the annual inflation rate last month was 2.2 per cent.
The average of Canada’s three measures of core inflation, which leave out more-volatile items like gas prices, rose slightly to 2.1 per cent to bring the reading just above the mid-point of the Bank of Canada’s target range for inflation of one to three per cent. The central bank pays particular attention to core inflation ahead of its interest-rate decisions – and can raise its trend-setting rate as a way to keep inflation from rising too high.
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