For the first time since October 2021, the increase in prices at grocery stores was less pronounced than that of overall inflation.
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For the first time since October 2021, the increase in prices in grocery stores was less pronounced than that of overall inflation. (Archive photo)
Radio-Canada
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The consumer price index rose 2.8% in February compared to the same period last year in the country, good news in the circumstances, since economists expected inflation above 3%.
The prices of cell phone services as well as those of food at the grocery store are not unrelated to the slowdown in growth, according to Statistics Canada, which highlights that the increase from one year to the next in the prices of Gasoline, which rose 0.8% in February after falling 4.0% in January, offset the slowdown.
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The federal agency indicates, however, that apart from the gasoline-related indices, the growth in the overall CPI (+ 2.9%) slowed year-over-year in February, down from the 3.2% increase seen in January.
For their part, rent prices and the mortgage interest cost index continued to exert upward pressure on the overall CPI, continues the Statistics Canada press release.
The federal agency indicates as an example that the CPI increased by 3.3% year over year #x27;other in February in Quebec, 2.8% in Nova Scotia, 2.1% in New Brunswick and 1.5% in Prince Edward Island.
A person is using their phone.
Statistics Canada experts note that cell phone plans fell 26.5% year over year in February, after falling 16.4% in January. The year-over-year decline, they say, was mainly attributable to lower prices for new plans and higher data allowances offered in some cell phone plans.
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The same is true for prices of Internet access services, which fell by 13.2% year-on-year in February as a result of the impact of Internet access services. a monthly decrease of 9.4%. This decrease is attributable to promotions offered by Internet service providers, we can read.
Food prices at the grocery store continued to rise downward year-over-year trend in February (+2.4%) compared to January (+3.4%) and the slowdown was widespread.
Thus, the prices of fresh fruit (-2.6%), processed meat (-0.6%) and fish (-1.3%) showed a decline, while the prices of other food preparations ( +1.4%), canned fruit and fruit preparations (+4.0%), cereal products (+1.7%) and dairy products (+0.6%) recorded a slowdown of their growth in February.
For the first time since October 2021, the increase in grocery store prices was less pronounced than that of overall inflation. The slowdown in price growth was partly attributable to a year-over-year effect, explains Statistics Canada.
As for gasoline , prices grew 0.8% in February, after falling 4.0% the previous month. This is explained in particular by the context of the rise in crude oil prices on a global scale attributable to the expected extension of the voluntary reduction in production by certain oil-producing countries.
The three data favored by the Bank of Canada to measure fundamental inflation in the country have been in continuous decline since September 2023. For example, the weighted median of the Index consumer prices fell from 3.8% year-over-year in September 2023 to 3.1% in February 2024. The trimmed-average measure, known as also CPI-tronq, increased from 3.6% to 3.2% during the same period.