Petrol prices lead the surge with 33.2 percent price increase on an annual basis. Published On 22 Jun 202622 Jun 2026Canada’s annual inflation rate surged to a 29-month high in May at 3.2 percent as heightened oil prices due to the US-led tensions with Iran weighed on petrol prices.The release of the data by Statistics Canada on Monday marked the first time in nearly two-and-a-half years that Canada’s headline inflation has moved outside the Bank of Canada’s one percent to three percent target range.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list“It’s never good news to see the overall inflation rate track above three percent, even if it is for one month only,” said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, to the Reuters news agency.The monthly inflation rate jumped one percent in May, marking the highest gain in 15 months.Petrol prices jumped 33.2 percent on an annual basis in May. This is the highest since Russia invaded Ukraine, according to Statistics Canada.The increase overall rippled into transportation costs, which increased 9 percent compared to the previous month.Overall consumer prices jumped 2.2 percent amid heightened food, recreation, and alcoholic beverage costs on an annual basis. Food prices jumped 3.8 percent in May, led by a 5.3 percent increase in the cost of fresh fruit and a 9 percent increase in the price of vegetables.The inflation number is not likely to alter the Bank of Canada’s assessment of underlying inflation, as it said earlier this month that it was seeing limited evidence that higher energy prices were fuelling broad-based inflation.Shelter costs rose by 1.7 percent in May following a 1.8 percent increase in April, data showed, led by a reduction in mortgage costs, which shrank by 0.2 percent last month. Advertisement Heightened inflation c …
