Canada's consumer price index accelerated to 3.0% annually in July, up from 2.8% in June, driven by higher gasoline and travel-tour prices, according to the country's statistical agency on Monday.
Annual gasoline inflation accelerated to 25.7% in July from 20.5% in June, reflecting upward pressure from disruptions to Middle East shipping routes, while travel-tour prices rose 15.2% from 6.8%, partly due to higher hotel and airfare costs associated with the soccer World Cup travel, wrote Statistics Canada in a statement.
July's annual CPI was higher than the 2.9% consensus figure in a Bloomberg survey.
CPI rose 0.5% monthly on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, or 0.3% on a seasonally adjusted basis, added StatsCan. Excluding gasoline, CPI remained at 2.2% year over year for a third consecutive month.
Food-price inflation eased to 3.1% annually in July from 3.9%, although grocery prices continued to rise faster than headline CPI for an 18th consecutive month. The moderation reflected softer price growth for fresh vegetables and chicken, alongside lower cereal prices.