Inflation in Canada eased to two per cent in August, hitting the target set by the country’s central bank and marking its slowest increase since February 2021.
Statistics Canada announced this in a statement on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.
The easing was due in part to lower gas prices, down 5.1 per cent year-on-year after a 1.9 per cent increase in July, the government agency said.
Prices of clothes and shoes also dropped month-on-month – a surprise for August when students in Canada are preparing to return to school, fueling demand and usually sending prices up.
“A drop in prices in the month of August has not been observed since 1971,” Statistics Canada said.
Rent and mortgage interest costs are still the top contributors to the overall increase in prices, it added.
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In recent months, the Bank of Canada has lowered its key interest rate three times, from five per cent to the current 4.25 per cent.
Inflation has fallen from 2.7 per cent in June and 2.5 to July to two per cent in August.
“The bottom line then is that inflation remains unthreatening and the Bank of Canada should now focus on trying to stimulate the economy and halting the upward climb in the unemployment rate,” AFP quoted CIBC economist Andrew Grantham as saying.
For RBC economists Nathan Janzen and Abbey Xum, the inflation data marks a “clear” path to further interest rate cuts.
“We continue to expect a gradual rate-cutting path (25 basis points per meeting) down to a 3% overnight rate,” they said in a note.
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