Economics

Canadian Inflation Blows Past Expectations, Spiking to 6.7%

  • Price pressures stoke bets for second half-point rate hike
  • Return to more normal readings expected to be prolonged

Gasoline prices were the biggest contributor to Canadian consumer price inflation in March.

Photographer: Taehoon Kim/Bloomberg
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Canadian consumer price inflation shot past expectations in March, jumping to a new three-decade high and cementing expectations the Bank of Canada will continue with aggressive interest rate hikes in coming weeks.

Annual inflation rose to 6.7% last month, up from 5.7% in February, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday in Ottawa. That’s the highest since January 1991 and exceeds the median estimate of 6.1% in a Bloomberg survey of economists.