Gas prices down, food up

Photo: Jon Manchester

The annual pace of inflation slowed once again last month as lower gasoline and electricity prices helped offset higher costs in most other categories, Statistics Canada said Friday.

Overall, the agency's latest inflation report found that prices were one per cent higher in June compared to a year earlier. The June number followed inflation readings of 1.3 per cent in May and 1.6 per cent in April.

Last month's inflation figure matched expectations from a consensus of economists that had predicted a reading of one per cent, according to Thomson Reuters.

Statistics Canada said lower gasoline prices last month were a primary contributor behind inflation's deceleration as pump prices contracted 1.4 per cent compared to a year earlier.

Electricity prices dropped 5.3 per cent over the same period, while other energy costs rose, including 10 per cent growth in natural gas and a 7.8 per cent increase in the price of fuel oil and other fuels.

Upward pressure on prices also came from a 7.1 per cent rise in traveller accommodation, seven per cent for travel tours and 2.5 per cent for restaurants.

Food prices were up 0.6 per cent in June — the first increase after eight consecutive months of contractions, the report said.

In B.C., inflation dipped to 1.7 per cent, down from 1.9 per cent a month earlier.