Canada Inflation Accelerates to 4% in August

By Robb M. Stewart

OTTAWA--Canada's annual inflation rate accelerated in August to the highest in four months as prices at the pump increased and consumers faced higher rent and mortgage interest costs.

The country's consumer price index rose 4.0% from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. The market was expecting the index to rise 3.8% for the month, after it rose to 3.3% in July, according to economists at TD Securities.

On a month-over-month basis, prices rose 0.4% in August, ahead of the consensus forecast for an increase of 0.2%. On a seasonally adjusted basis, CPI increased 0.6% from the previous month.

Meanwhile, the average of the Bank of Canada's preferred trimmed mean and weighted median measures for underlying core inflation in August was 4.0%, picking up from 3.75% the month before. Core inflation provides a measure of price changes that excludes volatile goods such as food and energy.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 19, 2023 08:51 ET (12:51 GMT)

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