The year-over-year increase in food prices in grocery stores in December remained the same as that observed in November, but the increase in gasoline prices helped to increase inflation, according to the Statistics Canada data released Tuesday.
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Thus, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 3.4% year over year in December in Canada, after stabilizing in October and November (3.1%).
Prices of food purchased in grocery stores increased by 4.7% year over year in December, which corresponds to the increase observed in November (+4.7%).
The acceleration in CPI growth was largely attributable to the year-over-year increase in gasoline prices in December (+1.4%), after falling 7.7% in november.
Air travel prices rose 31.1% in Canada month-over-month in December, after increasing 1.1% in November, amid strong demand during the holiday season. However, air transportation prices decreased year over year in December (-9.7%) compared to November (-17.4%).
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Rent prices continued to increase in December (+7.7%) year-on-year, after recording an increase of 7.4% in November. “The growth in interest rates, which can hamper homeownership, put upward pressure on the index,” Statistics Canada said. Although rent prices remained high in most provinces year over year in December, price increases observed in Ontario (+6.9%), British Columbia (+8.6% ) and Quebec (+6.8%) were the strongest.
On the contrary, rent prices in Prince Edward Island (-0.9%) decreased year over year for a fifth consecutive month in December.
According to Statistics Canada, price growth increased in nine provinces year over year in December.
In Quebec, the inflation rate increased by 4% between December 2022 and December 2023. It is also the province which has the highest inflation rate in Canada.