Gas, car prices fuel a 1.2 per cent increase in inflation in June

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the annual rate of inflation jumped half a point to a still-low 1.2 per cent last month, as gasoline and automobile prices rose sharply.

The increase put the inflation rate back into the desired range of between one and three per cent annual inflation that the Bank of Canada strives to achieve.

The major contributors in June were a 4.6-per-cent increase in gasoline prices at the pump and a two-per-cent hike in the cost of purchasing a new motor vehicle.

Food prices were up 1.2 per cent from the same month last year.

The Bank of Canada core inflation index moved up a more modest 0.2 percentage points to 1.3 per cent.

The official statistics were in line with private sector estimates.

Regionally, prices were higher in all provinces except British Columbia, which recorded its third consecutive month of disinflation, chiefly attributed to a one-per-cent decrease in food costs.