Canada’s annual inflation rate was 2.2% in November. This value remains unchanged from the previous month. Statistics Canada shared on Monday, 15 December, that this figure has been driven primarily by food prices rising at their fastest pace in more than 2 years.
The statistics agency went on to add that a year-on-year decrease in costs of fuel and shelter tends to offset the rise partially in food prices.
It was the first month in the last nine months since March 2025 that the core measures of inflation, which exclude volatile items such as food and fuel, reached a high of just below 3%, marking the upper end of the Bank of Canada’s control range.
Analysts polled by Reuters had previously forecast an annual inflation value of 2.3%.
November’s monthly inflation matched analysts’ estimates of 0.1%, which is down 0.2% from October as disclosed by StatsCan.
Since April, the removal of a carbon levy on fuel sales has subdued Canada’s annual inflation. This move has successfully reduced fuel prices year-over-year.
StatsCan data reflected that the price of fuel was up 1.8% in November when compared with the previous month of October. However, on an annual basis, it was still 7.8% lower.
StatsCan went on to add that overall, food prices rose by 4.2% on an annual basis in November. It reflected the biggest increase for 2 years back in December 2023. This was spurred by a 4.7% rise in grocery prices and a 3.3% increase in the cost of food purchased from restaurants.
