(BlackburnNews.com file photo)(BlackburnNews.com file photo)
Chatham

Higher gas prices push inflation rate to 4 per cent in August

The price of groceries didn't rise as fast in August, but Canadians did pay more at the gas pump, pushing the national inflation rate to 4 per cent in August.

Statistics Canada released its Consumer Price Index report for August on Tuesday morning, explaining why inflation rose for the second consecutive month.

The rise is not encouraging, considering progress on inflation is expected to stall in the next few months.

After a 12.9 per cent drop in gas in July from the year before, higher crude prices boosted those costs for the consumer by 0.8 per cent from August 2022.

As for prices at the grocery store, Canadians still paid more, although costs did not accelerate as fast. Food rose 6.9 per cent from August 2022 after July's 8.5 per cent jump.

If you bought cereal products, you paid 9.8 per cent more, 9 per cent more for coffee or tea, and another 10.9 per cent for sugar and confectionery. The cost of fresh or frozen meat rose 8.9 per cent for chicken and 11.9 per cent for beef.

Mortgage interest costs continued to lighten Canadian wallets as those rose 30.9 per cent compared to July's 30.6 per cent increase. Those who rent didn't save either. The rent index climbed another 6.5 per cent.

As the summer travel season began to slow, travel tours cost 6.4 per cent less and flying dipped 6.9 per cent.

Canada wasn't the only G7 nation to see inflation rise last month.

The U.S. inflation rate rose 0.5 percentage points to 3.7 per cent. In France, it increased to 4.8 per cent. Italy's rate in August was 5.9 per cent, and Germany's was 6.2.

The United Kingdom will release its consumer index report on Wednesday, and Japan will release it on Thursday.

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