Canada's August Inflation Holds Steady at 3% as Crude Stays Firm; Food Prices Ease

  • Canada's annual inflation growth rate held at 3% in August, the same as last month, as crude prices continued to stay firm and food prices cooled moderately, data showed on Monday, September 14, 2026. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecasted the annual inflation rate at 3% and monthly inflation to register no change.
  • Next month's consumer price ‌index data release, which would be for the month of September, could show further strengthening as benchmark Brent crude price crossed $100 per barrel this month and U.S. President Donald Trump's new 50% tariffs and Canada's retaliatory measures impact costs for the full month.
  • On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices fell 0.1%, Statistics Canada said. Gasoline prices eased slightly in August ⁠but still increased at an annual rate of 22.8%. This was down from a 25.7% increase noted in July.
  • Food prices, which have been accelerating faster than headline inflation since July, eased slightly and registered an annual growth rate of 2.8%. This was the first time in 14 months that food prices fell below the 3% mark. Prices for dairy products led the deceleration in food prices, with costs rising 0.7% annually in August compared with a 3.1% rise in July. Cheese and yoghurt were the top contributors to the slowdown in dairy prices, StatsCan said.
  • CPI-median, the centermost component of the CPI basket, stood at 2%, while CPI-trim, which excludes the most extreme price changes, was at 1.9% in August, the same as reported in July. These ⁠core measures have largely hovered around 2% for the last several months, easing worries that crude prices were spilling onto other costs. Shelter costs, which include rents and mortgage interest costs, increased slightly to 1.5% in August from 1.3% in July.
  • Despite the contained prices in August, the ⁠Bank of Canada (BoC) said last month that it will not hesitate to increase rates multiple times if inflation stays higher and impacts the closely watched core measures. The central bank strives to keep inflation around the midpoint of ⁠its target range of 1% to 3%.

(Source: Reuters)