Gas prices rise 7 cents across Toronto, GTA
Posted July 23, 2022 4:08 pm.
Last Updated July 23, 2022 11:59 pm.
What goes down must eventually come up again.
After two consecutive days of falling gas prices, the price at the pump jumped by seven cents at midnight to 175.9 cents/litre at most Toronto and GTA gas stations.
Gas prices had fallen 10 cents over the last two days to its lowest levels since April. Despite Sunday’s increase, gas prices have fallen just over 9 per cent since the beginning of the month, when they hovered around $2 a litre.
While it might not seem like it, Ontarians are currently paying the lowest prices nationally at the pumps. As of Saturday, motorists in B.C. are paying the highest price at 198.4 cents/litre, according to the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA).
CAA also reports the average price for gasoline across the country was 178.3 cents/litre as of July 23.
RELATED: Daily update of gas prices across the GTA
Paul Pasco, a principal consultant with Kalibrate, says even with some fluctuations gas prices will continue to go down.
“It looks like we’re on a little bit of a downward trend. I don’t know how far it’s going to go. I don’t think we’re going to see a dramatic decline continue, but there’s been a little bit of relief as high prices have taken a bit out of people’s desire to drive and we haven’t see quite a ton of traffic,” he told CityNews.
Pasco added the change in prices can be attributed, in part, to lower demand for fuel.
“We’ve seen a build in inventories, which is leading to a slight decline in prices,” he said. “I think you’re seeing just a little bit of declining demand. People are making that transition from discretionary travel to more necessary.”
Statistics Canada reported on Thursday that a 12.0 per cent gain in gas prices helped lift sales at gasoline stations 9.2 per cent in May, even though volume terms sales at gas stations fell 2.2 per cent.
On Wednesday, the federal agency pegged the increase in the consumer price index for the month of June largely on higher gasoline prices, which shot up by more than 50 per cent compared with a year ago.
“With gasoline prices expected to fall next month, we could finally have seen peak inflation,” said CIBC senior economist Karyne Charbonneau.
Douglas Porter, chief economist at the Bank of Montreal, said he’s expecting a nine percent drop in gasoline prices in July which should provide some relief to Canada’s inflation rate, which stood at 8.1 per cent last month.
Files from Renee Bernard, Hana Mae Nassar and The Canadian Press were used in this report
