The country’s annual inflation rate slowed to an unexpectedly weak 1.6 per cent last month as the continued decline in food prices played a big role in offsetting the higher cost of gasoline, Statistics Canada said Friday. The agency’s latest reading shows the pace of inflation decelerated from February’s year-over-year reading of 2 per cent, which was right on the Bank of Canada’s ideal target. A consensus of economists had predicted 1.8 per cent inflation for March, according to Thomson Reuters. The softer-than-expected reading followed months of better-than-expected economic data which prompted the Bank of Canada to boost its growth projection last week for the year to 2.6 per cent, up from its January call of 2.1 per cent. “We really haven’t seen any of that (stronger data) spill over into the inflation side,” BMO senior economist Benjamin Reitzes said in an interview.

Source: thestar April 21, 2017 17:26 UTC