What happened: Canada’s consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.2% in April on a year-over-year basis, driven down by falling energy prices.
Why it matters: This is the first annual decline in CPI since September 2009, and captures the significant impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on certain sectors.
Canada’s consumer price index (CPI) fell for the first time in more than a decade on a year-over-year basis, according to the latest CPI data from Statistics Canada.
CPI declined 0.2% nationally in April, driven by a nearly 40% drop in the price of gasoline – the largest decline on record.
Excluding energy, the country’s CPI rose 1.6% from April 2019 to April 2020.
After gasoline (down 39.3%), the price of telephone services (down 6.9%), electricity (down 4.1%), traveller accommodation (down 9.8%) and men’s clothing (down 7.4%) were the largest downward contributors to the year-over-year change in last month’s index.
Passenger vehicle insurance premiums (up 7.7%), rent (up 2.3%), mortgage interest (up 4%) and meat (up 6.7%) were among the main upward contributors. Higher sales and supply chain issues contributed to steeper prices for pork (up 9%) and beef (up 8.5%).
Compared with April 2019, Canadians on average paid 9.2% more for rice, 8.8% more for eggs and 7.9% more for margarine last month.
On a month-to-month basis, gasoline prices fell 15.2%. Clothing and footwear also fell 5.9% – the largest monthly decline on record for that category.
The price of household goods rose 4.6% on a monthly basis, with toilet paper – up 6% – posting its largest monthly gain on record.
British Columbia’s CPI remained unchanged year-over-year, and fell 0.8% month-to-month.
