May’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) from Stats Canada included a major oddity.
“All provinces decelerated and that includes BC. BC’s CPI increase was 1.9% in May after a 2.1% increase in April,” says Brian Harrison, an analyst with Stats Canada.
This is the first time since February of 2016 where all provinces decelerated on a year-over-year basis.
The top story of the CPI was gasoline in what Harrison describes as a glass-half-full, glass-half-empty scenario.
“Despite being a top decelerator it is still one of the top contributors to the increase in prices. For example, in British Columbia, on a year-over-year basis gasoline prices increased 10.2% in May following a 19.1% increase in April.”
Food prices in the province remain anything but a bargain.
“Fresh fruit increased 7.5% on a month-over-month basis. The fresh fruit and the fresh vegetable indexes posted their first year-over-year increases after 8 months of decline,” says Harrison.
Year-over-year, the homeowners’ replacement cost rose 4.5% in May after a 4.7% jump during April.
The traveler accommodation index in the province was the largest accelerator and also jumped the highest among all the provinces in Canada.
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