Canada inflation slows further to 2.8%; rent continues to rise

Canada’s CPI rose 2.78% in February, a further slowdown from the 2.86% increase in the previous month.

• Monthly growth rate of CPI was 0.32%, up from zero inflation in January.

The two core inflation Bank of Canada adopted declined further, edging closer to the 3% upper limit of the central bank’s inflation target range, which centers around 2%

• CPI-trim dropped to 3.24%
• CPI-median to 3.08%

Three-month inflation: 0%

The inflation picture is even more encouraging if we look at three-month annualized rate

• for the last three months, headline inflation was zero.
• CPI-trim increased 2.35% YoY
• CPI-median was even lower, at 2.11%

Both core inflation gauges are close to 2% target in the three months to February.

Shelter prices rises 6.5%

Still, shelter cost growth continues march high, reaching 6.48% in February.

The increase is driven by the continous rise in the cost of rented accommodation

• rented accommodation costs are 7.94% higher than a year ago, as rent CPI alone rose 8.16% over the year;
• cost of owned accommodation is rising at roughly the same rate as in December and January, at a yearly rate of around 6.7%, as the increase in mortgage interest cost slowed to 26.3%, compared to 27.4% in the previous month.