Consumer price index in January up 1.4 per cent from year ago

By The Canadian Press

The country’s annual inflation rate decelerated last month to 1.4 per cent in large part because of lower prices at the pump.

Statistics Canada says year-over-year growth in consumer prices slowed in January compared with the two per cent inflation reading for December.

Economists on average had expected an increase of 1.5 per cent for January, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

Compared with a year earlier, Canadians paid 14.2 per cent less last month for gasoline, 9.2 per cent less for computer devices and 3.2 per cent less for traveller accommodation.

On the other hand, year-over-year prices last month were 13.2 per cent higher for fresh vegetables, 7.8 per cent higher for mortgage interest costs and 5.3 per cent higher at restaurants.

The agency says that excluding gasoline inflation was 2.1 per cent last month.

The report also says the average of the Bank of Canada’s three core inflation readings, which omit more-volatile items like gas, was 1.9 per cent in January for a third straight month.

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