March saw a 2.9% increase in Canada's Consumer Price Index, driven by higher gasoline and shelter costs
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Canada experienced a year-over-year increase of 2.9 percent in March, up from February's 2.8 percent, primarily driven by rising gasoline prices, as reported by Statistics Canada.
When excluding gasoline, the CPI increase slowed slightly to 2.8 percent, down from February's 2.9 percent.
Shelter costs continued to exert upward pressure on the CPI in March. Significant contributors to this trend included mortgage interest costs and rent, which rose notably over the year.
Meanwhile, service prices also saw a rise, increasing by 4.5 percent in March compared to 4.2 percent in February, led by higher costs in air transportation and rent. In contrast, the price growth for goods slowed to 1.1 percent year over year, down from 1.2 percent in the previous month.
On a monthly basis, the CPI saw a rise of 0.6 percent in March, with broad-based increases across various categories. The seasonally adjusted monthly CPI also went up by 0.3 percent.
Specifically, shelter prices, which rose 6.5 percent year over year in March, maintained the same rate of increase as in February. The mortgage interest cost index saw a significant year-over-year rise of 25.4 percent in March, although this was a slight decrease from February's 26.3 percent increase.
Rent prices continued their upward trajectory, increasing by 8.5 percent year over year in March, up from an 8.2 percent rise in February. This increase is partly attributed to a higher interest rate environment which has made homeownership more challenging, thereby pushing up rent prices.
Gasoline prices also contributed to the inflationary pressure, with a year-over-year increase of 4.5 percent in March, significantly up from February's 0.8 percent rise.
Month-over-month, gasoline prices surged by 4.9 percent in March. While prices in Eastern Canada rose at a slower pace compared to February, Western Canada saw a faster increase.
