Article content

Canadian consumer prices climbed 1.3 per cent in August as rising costs for food, shelter and clothing offset a drop in gasoline prices.

Food costs as measured by the consumer price index rose 3.6 per cent, including a 6.3 per cent increase for meat, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa. Gasoline prices fell by 12.6 per cent in August from a year earlier.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canadians might be paying less for gas, but they are paying a lot more for food Back to video

The core inflation rate, which excludes eight volatile products, slowed to 2.1 per cent from July’s 2.4 per cent reading that matched the fastest since 2008. Gains in the overall and the core consumer price index matched the median estimates in a Bloomberg economist survey.

The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate at 0.5 per cent on Sept. 9 and said inflation was advancing in line with policy makers’ July forecast, which was for consumer prices to stabilize around 2 per cent in the first half of 2017. The central bank cut borrowing costs in January and July as an oil shock cut business investment and made gasoline cheaper for households.