OTTAWA - High gas prices at the pump kept Canada's inflation rate above the Bank of Canada's comfort zone for the second straight month in April, with the overall price index remaining at an elevated 3.3 per cent.
Gasoline prices jumped 6.4 per cent in one month in April and were 26.4 per cent higher than a year ago, Statistics Canada reported Friday in its monthly inflation report.
That brings gasoline prices within five per cent of the record set in the summer of 2008.
Overall, energy prices were 17.1 per cent higher in Canada last month than they were a year ago, with fuel oil rising by 32.4 per cent and electricity by seven per cent.
Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney warned on Monday that volatility in energy prices would likely keep the annual inflation rate above the bank's one-to-three per cent range, and well above the two per cent target, for a few months.
But Carney also said he believed prices would soon begin to moderate and nothing in Friday's report suggests the outlook has changed.
Excluding energy, the consumer price index would be exactly where the central bank wants it at two per cent. And the bank's core index, which overlooks volatile items such as gas and fresh vegetables, actually edged down one-tenth of a point to 1.6 per cent.
On a month to month basis, prices overall were 0.3 per cent higher in April, a steep drop from the 1.1 per cent monthly increase experienced in March.
The rest of the inflation story in April was mostly one of cresting or falling prices.
Food purchased at stores rose 3.7 per cent in April, the same annual increase as in March, while overall food prices rose at a 3.3 per cent rate. The agency said consumers paid more for meat and bakery products.
Shelter costs rose by 2.3 per cent, but mortgage interest costs fell by 2.1 per cent.
On a monthly basis, prices fell on fresh vegetables, furniture, women's clothing, non-alcoholic beverages and dairy products, the agency said.
Regionally, inflation was highest in Nova Scotia at 4.2 per cent, and lowest in Iqaluit, where prices averaged only 1.3 per cent higher than a year ago.
