Inflation rose to 1.4% in August

September 22nd, 2017  |  Personal Finance

August saw Canadian inflation rates rise to 1.4%. One of the major factors believed to have played a factor is the rising cost of transportation, specifically gasoline and flight prices.

According to Statistics Canada, transportations costs rose by 2.8% since August of last year, a jump from the 1.9% increase that July 2016-2017 experienced.

Gasoline prices were up 8.6% from the previous year, and played a major factor in August’s inflation numbers. The cost of flight tickets also contributed, as according to StatsCan, "air transportation costs grew at a greater rate on a year-over-year basis in August than in July."

"The uptick in goods prices is likely to be more pronounced in September due to the spike in gasoline prices in the aftermath of hurricane Harvey, and there may be some upward pressure on fresh foods and vegetables later this year related to the damage that hurricane Irma has wrought upon Florida's agricultural industry," said TD Bank economist, Fotios Raptis. "However, the strong advance in the Canadian dollar should begin to exert downward pressure on goods prices in the months ahead."

The only Canadian province to not experience a rise in inflation rates was Manitoba, who has remained steady at 0.9%.