Canada's annual inflation rate declined in March despite the federal government's elimination of temporary tax exemptions, with consumers paying less at gas stations and for tourist travel and airfare.
The country's consumer price index rose 2.3% year-on-year, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. The market had expected a 2.7% increase, according to economists at TD Securities.
After hovering at or below the central bank's 2% target for six consecutive months, inflation rebounded to 2.6% in February.
On a month-over-month basis, prices rose 0.3%, below the consensus forecast of a 0.7% increase. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI remained unchanged from the previous month.
The Bank of Canada's preferred measures of core inflation, the trimmed mean and weighted median, remained virtually unchanged, declining only slightly to 2.85% year-over-year from an eight-month high of 2.9% in February.
Robb M. Stewart, TradingView