After the worst in four decades, Canadians are experiencing something that has been exceptionally rare in recent years: price cuts. In April, around one-third of the goods and services that make up the Consumer Price Index – the country’s main gauge of inflation – dropped in price on a year-over-year basis, according to a Desjardins Securities analysis of Statistics Canada data. It was the highest proportion of declining prices since January, 2021.
This doesn’t mean prices are heading back to where they were before the inflation surge. targets a low and stable inflation rate of 2 per cent and it expects to hit that mark next year. At last count, the annual inflation rate was 2.
7 per cent. But while general prices are rising at a slower rate, the situation is more volatile for specific items. The CPI includes hundreds of goods and services and their prices can fluctuate for all sorts of reasons.
For instance, the price of fresh produce can be driven higher by adverse weather in other countries, then fall back as growing conditions improve. Other products such as consumer electronics have become persistently cheaper over time, thanks to factors including technological advances and offshore manufacturing. Recently, a major driver of slower inflation has been higher , which have led to weaker spending by consumers.
Some retailers are marking down items or can’t pass on higher costs to the same degree because of the slowdown in demand. While prices are mostly higher than.
