OTTAWA (NEWS1130) – The fall of prices at the pump helped slow Canada’s annual inflation rate last month to 1.5 per cent.
The reading compared with an annual gain in the consumer price index of two per cent set in November.
Statistics Canada’s report found gasoline prices for December were down 16.6 per cent from a year ago.
Compared with a year earlier, the federal agency says consumer prices rose in seven of the survey’s eight major categories with transportation the lone decliner.
The December headline inflation reading matched economists’ expectations, according to Thomson Reuters.
The core inflation measure, which excludes some volatile items such as gasoline, accelerated slightly in December to 2.2 per cent to match economists’ expectations.