Some stubbornness at the gas pumps pushed the headline inflation rate a couple ticks higher to 1.9 percent in August, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
Gasoline prices rose 1.4 percent month-over-month in August as higher refining margins offset lower crude costs, StatCan said.
The price of gas was still down 12.7 percent annually in August—the end of the consumer carbon price has deflated costs for motorists since the spring—but the decline fell short of July’s 16.1 percent drop, pushing the headline inflation rate higher.
Heading into the release, economists had broadly expected inflation would rise to two percent, from 1.7 percent in July.
Stripping out gas prices, inflation came in at 2.4 percent in August, down a tick from the past three months….