Inflation rate rises to 3.4% as rent prices, flight costs increase

Canada's inflation rate has increased to 3.4 per cent.

The annual rate in December was 0.3 percentage points higher than in November, when it was 3.1 per cent.

In October, the rate was also 3.1 per cent; in September, it was 3.8 per cent.

The annual rate – measured by the consumer price index – is supposed to give a rough idea of how much more expensive a selection of essential goods and services is in one month compared with the same month a year earlier.

British Columbia’s inflation rate was 3.4 per cent in December, higher than November’s 3.2 per cent.

Statistics Canada, the federal agency that publishes official inflation data, said gas prices across Canada were up 1.4 per cent in December 2023 compared with December 2022.

Rent prices, meanwhile, were up 7.7 per cent (8.6 per cent in BC) and food was up five per cent.

Air transportation was up 3.2 per cent amid strong demand during the holiday season, StatCan said.

Alcohol, cannabis and tobacco were up 4.3 per cent.

Across the whole of 2023, inflation rose by an average of 3.9 per cent – considerably down on the 40-year high of 6.8 per cent in 2022.

But with 2022 excepted, 2023 still saw the highest rate since 1991.

The annual rate for BC was also 3.9 per cent in 2023, compared with 6.9 per cent in 2022.