Canada’s inflation shot past the 2 per cent level for the first time in four months in May, as rising gasoline prices boosted the annual rate a half-point higher to 2.2 per cent.
Statistics Canada said the 0.5 per cent hike was the biggest since September, and the 1 per cent monthly jump from April to May was the most since January 1991.
Economists had been expecting inflation to accelerate but at a slower pace, forecasting the year-over-year increase at 1.9 per cent in May. Still, they are divided as to whether Canada now has an inflation problem, as the Bank of Canada suggested last week when it brought an abrupt end to interest rate cuts.
