Canada’s annual inflation rate drops

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OTTAWA, ON. (NEWS 1130) – The country’s annual inflation rate was 1.3 per cent in July as Canadians paid more for shelter and food but less for fuel, that’s according to Statistics Canada. This overall inflation number in the federal agency’s latest consumer price index came in a little weaker than the 1.5 per cent year-over-year increase in June.

In BC, the rate went up. In June it was 2.0 per cent and last month it was 2.1. Meantime in Vancouver, it was 2.6 per cent last month, up from 2.4 per cent the previous month.

Prices climbed in most major categories compared with 12 months earlier with the cost of shelter and food items generating the biggest upward nudges on inflation. For example, the index found that Canadians paid 9.8 per cent more for potatoes last month compared with July 2015, 10.3 per cent more for fresh or frozen fish and 15.6 per cent more for apples.

Under the shelter category, the price of electricity was 5.4 per cent higher than the year before.

In contrast, gasoline prices fell last month by 14 per cent compared to a year earlier, fuel oil dropped 13.4 per cent and natural gas slid 10.3 per cent.

The agency’s core annual inflation rate, which omits some volatile items like gasoline, stayed at 2.1 per cent last month.

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