Posted
According to Statistics Canada, the prices of consumer goods have taken the lift. At issue: disruptions in the supply chain and bad weather conditions.
Supply chain disruptions linked to the Covid pandemic have led to shortages which have passed through to consumer prices.
Getty Images via AFP
Consumer prices continued to soar in December year-on-year in Canada, hitting a 30-year high, driven in part by supply chain disruptions, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.
“The consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.8% year over year in December, up from the 4.7% increase in November,” the report said. a statement from the National Institute of Statistics.
Excluding gasoline, the increase was 4% year over year. This is the largest consumer price increase since September 1991.
“Inflation has reached its highest level in 30 years and is approaching a peak,” economist Stephen Brown said in a note, adding that analysts expect that rate to hold during the first quarter, then “fall drastically” later this year.
Food prices saw the biggest jump since 2011 in December, rising 5.7 percent year-on-year.
The price of fruit has increased by more than 6% in one year
The statistics institute explains that “unfavorable weather conditions in the producing regions as well as disruptions in the supply chain were behind the increase in prices paid by households”. The price of fruits such as apples, oranges and bananas, for example, increased by 6.7%, 6.6% and 2.5% respectively.
For durable goods, price increases are even greater. Canadians had to spend more money in December to buy a car (+7.2%), a fridge or freezer (+13.9%), or even a washing machine -machine, dryer or dishwasher (+10.4%).
The purchasing power of Canadians has declined, notes Statistics Canada, with prices rising at a faster rate than wages, for which an increase of 2.6% was observed during the same period.
(AFP)
