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Inflation dips to 1.1%

The country's annual inflation rate was an unexpectedly low 1.1 per cent in August as lower fuel prices dragged it to the lower reaches of the Bank of Canada's target range.

Statistics Canada's latest reading of the consumer price index was weaker than the 1.3 per cent year-over-year increase in July, as the number neared the fringe of the central bank's ideal range of one to three per cent.

Economists had expected inflation to ring in at 1.4 per cent in August, according to Thomson Reuters.

Statistics Canada said prices rose in most major categories compared with a year earlier — with the cost of electricity, air transportation and passenger vehicles contributing the biggest upward pushes to the overall inflation rate.

A closer look at last month's numbers revealed Canadians paid 14.5 per cent more for apples compared with a year earlier, 9.3 per cent more for fresh or frozen fish and 5.3 per cent more for cigarettes.

But increases like those were offset by lower prices for items like gasoline, which dropped 11.5 per cent, fuel oil, which fell 11.8 per cent and natural gas, which slid 9.9 per cent.

The Bank of Canada's core inflation rate, which omits some volatile items like gasoline, was 1.8 per cent last month after hitting 2.1 per cent in July.

Statistics Canada also released fresh retail trade numbers Friday that showed total sales slipped 0.1 per cent in July, compared with the previous month. Total retail sales in July were just over $44.1 billion.

In British Columbia, the inflation rate was 2.0 per cent, down from 2.1 in July.

 



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