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OTTAWA —
The national statistics agency will say this morning how the country’s headline inflation barometer fared in February as it continues to face effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Statistics Canada’s consumer price index rose one per cent in January compared to the same month one year earlier, accelerating from the 0.7 per cent recorded in December 2020.
Expectations are that the index will rise faster in February, although beneath the Bank of Canada’s two-per-cent inflation target.
Financial data firm Refinitiv says the average economist estimate is for a year-over-year increase of 1.3 per cent.
The longer price weaknesses prevail, the longer central bank plans to keep its key interest rate at 0.25 per cent to help the economy get back on its feet.
The Bank of Canada has warned that annual inflation readings in March and beyond may spike above its two-per-cent comfort zone, but only because the 12-month comparison will be to the worst of the pandemic-induced downturn.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 17, 2021.
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