Price increases in British Columbia were well below average in the 12 months leading up to January, according to Statistics Canada data released this morning.
B.C.’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.3% in this period, after an increase of 0.4% in the 12 months to December.
Nationally, prices increases were low at 0.5% year-over-year.
Alberta was the only province that saw a CPI decrease, with a 0.5% drop.
The fastest year-over-year price increases were in Whitehorse (1.7%), Nova Scotia (1.4%) and Prince Edward Island (1.3%).
Nationwide, the fastest price increase over the 12-month period leading to January was in alcoholic beverages and tobacco products (1.9%).
Price decreases were found in clothing and footwear (1.6%) and transportation (0.5%).
Statistics Canada also reported this morning that retail sales across all the provinces were down an average of 2.1% in December, after five consecutive monthly gains.
This combined with the subdued inflation rate helped pull the Canadian dollar to a seven-month low, down 0.54 of a cent to US$0.97.62 at mid-morning trading Friday.
