CPI figures down marginally in Canada, as food pricing leads inflation deceleration

Today, Statistics Canada published the nation’s latest CPI figures, ahead of US and Canadian markets’ morning opening.

Annual inflation

The site announced that Canadian year-over-year inflation decreased 0.2% last month, from 2.9% in March 2024 to 2.7% in April.

This was in line with expectations, as analysts largely expected year-on-year CPI rates of 2.7%, and month-on-month inflation to be at 0.5%, down 0.1% from March 2024 to April 2024.

Monthly inflation

Month-on-month inflation came down marginally but remained virtually unchanged at 0.5% for April 2024, compared with 0.6% in March.

According to Statistics Canada, this was “mainly driven by prices for gasoline. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.2% in April.”

Consumer pricing slows

Encouragingly, monthly CPI figures were positive for most regions.

Statistics Canada said that “year over year, prices rose at a slower pace in April compared with March in six provinces.”

Deceleration of inflation led by food items

According to today’s report, food prices led the deceleration in CPI for Canada, saying that:

While prices for food purchased from stores continue to increase, the index grew at a slower pace year over year in April (+1.4%) compared with March (+1.9%). Meat contributed the most to slower price growth, largely due to a base-year effect in prices for fresh or frozen beef (+4.4%) as a result of a monthly increase in April 2023.”

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