Canadian consumer price inflation shot past expectations in March, jumping to a new three-decade high and cementing expectations the Bank of Canada will continue with aggressive interest rate hikes in coming weeks.
Annual inflation rose to 6.7 per cent last month, up from 5.7 per cent in February, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday in Ottawa. That’s the highest since January 1991 and exceeds the median estimate of 6.1 per cent in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
The report shows inflation pressures that are more elevated than the central bank estimated just last week, reinforcing pressure on policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem to withdraw stimulus from an overheating economy. Investors see strong probability of a second half-percentage point increase at its next meeting, after officials delivered a jumbo hike last week.
“Today’s surprise on inflation substantially increases the odds that we do see another 50-basis-point hike in June,” Josh Nye, an economist at Royal Bank of Canada, said in an interview on BNN Bloomberg Television. “The market was starting to lean in that direction and I think this is only going to add to that.”
Bonds were hit hard. The benchmark Canadian government two-year yield shot up to nearly 2.56 per cent — the highest since October 2008 — from about 2.52 per cent before the release. The 10-year yield moved above 2.8 per cent.
Prices rose by 1.4 per cent in March alone, the biggest one-month increase since the country introduced a federal sales tax in 1991.
The reading may represent the peak of the run-up in annual price gains, capturing the impact of soaring food and energy costs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Still, the return to anything resembling normal is expected to be prolonged and that’s a worry for policymakers trying to prevent inflation expectations from hardening at current levels.
And while gasoline prices were the biggest contributor to the monthly and annual gain in prices, inflation has become broad-based with sharp increases in costs for housing, food and cars. The average of the central bank’s core measures — often seen as a better indicator of underlying price pressures — rose to 3.77 per cent, also the highest since 1991.
Goods inflation hit 9.2 per cent in March, the highest since 1982. Services inflation rose to 4.3 per cent, the highest since 2003.
Macklem and his officials forecast inflation would slow to an average 4.5 per cent by the fourth quarter of this year. Inflation averaged 5.8 per cent in the first quarter, versus Bank of Canada estimates of 5.6 per cent.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices jumped 0.9 per cent in March, matching a record high. Gasoline prices were up 12 per cent on the month, and 40 per cent from a year earlier. Food prices were up 7.7 per cent from a year earlier, after a 0.9 per cent gain in March. Grocery prices were up 8.7 per cent on an annual basis.
Canadian inflation blows past expectations, spiking to 6.7% & More Canada Latest News Update
Canadian inflation blows past expectations, spiking to 6.7% & More Canada Live News
All this news that I have made and shared for you people, you will like it very much and in it we keep bringing topics for you people like every time so that you keep getting news information like trending topics and you It is our goal to be able to get
all kinds of news without going through us so that we can reach you the latest and best news for free so that you can move ahead further by getting the information of that news together with you. Later on, we will continue
to give information about more today world news update types of latest news through posts on our website so that you always keep moving forward in that news and whatever kind of information will be there, it will definitely be conveyed to you people.
Canadian inflation blows past expectations, spiking to 6.7% & More Canada Trending News Today
All this news that I have brought up to you or will be the most different and best news that you people are not going to get anywhere, along with the information breaking news today of this news, you can get other types of news along with your country and city. You will be able to get information related to, as well as you will be able to get information about what is going on around you through us for free
so that you can make yourself a knowledgeable by getting complete information about your country and state and information about news. Whatever is being given through us, I have tried to bring it to you through other websites, which you may like
very much and if you like all this news, then definitely around you. Along with the people of India, keep sharing such news necessary to your loved ones, let all the news influence them and they can move forward two steps further.
Credit Goes To News Website – This Original Content Owner News Website . This Is Not My Content So If You Want To Read Original Content You Can Follow Below Links