Canada's consumer price index touched its highest level in almost two decades last month, as the price of just about everything is up sharply compared to the transitory lows of a year ago.
Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that the inflation rate hit 4.1 per cent in August. That's up from 3.7 per cent in July, which was already the highest rate in a decade.
Just about every type of good or service was a lot more expensive in August than it was a year earlier, including shelter (up 4.8 per cent), transportation (8.7 per cent) and food (2.7 per cent).
The homeowner replacement cost index — a number the data agency tabulates that factors in all the costs associated with owning a home, including property taxes, maintenance, insurance and mortgage interest costs — rose by 14 per cent in the year up to August. That's the sharpest jump in that metric since 1987.
Some of the biggest contributors to the jump were the sectors that Bank of Montreal economist Doug Porter noted were in full-on "reopening" mode from COVID-19 shutdowns including air travel, where the price of tickets soared 37.5 per cent and hotel charges, which were up 12 per cent. Gasoline prices, meanwhile, were up by 32 per cent compared to last year.
Supply chain issues causing shortages and driving up consumer prices of what's available are a big factor in many sectors of the economy, and there's perhaps no better example of that than in cars.
The price of new cars has risen by 7.2 per cent in the past year, which is the fastest pace since 1994, Porter noted. An ongoing shortage of semiconductor microchips is limiting how many cars the car companies can crank out, which is pushing up prices for what's available. The shortage of cars is pushing up prices for the used ones too, and leaving dealer lots mostly empty.
Other parts of the spiking inflation rate are because COVID-19 created artificially low prices a year ago, which makes annual comparisons now look misleadingly large. That type of inflation is what economists like Porter describe as being "transitory" and the good news is that Porter says those year-ago comparisons should run out of steam soon.
But the August numbers do suggest that the cost of living is fundamentally going up at a rapid clip.
"Some of the meaty rise was driven by reopening pressures, some by base effects ... and some by — presumably temporary — supply chain issues," Porter said.
But "rising wage pressures, robust home prices and firm energy costs all suggest that inflation is not about to quickly roll over as these other short-term factors fade," he added.
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2021-09-15 14:21:13Z
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