Higher Gas Costs Balance Less Expensive Food as Inflation Heats up to 1.5% in December.

A slight increase in gasoline prices helped make food prices slightly cheaper.

The cost of living in Canada increased by 1.5 per cent last month.

Statistics Canada revealed Friday that seven of the eight segments it tracks were costlier in December contrasted with November.

The transportation list, which incorporates gas, and the shelter index, which incorporates rental expenses, were the greatest donors to the rise.
Economists had expected a greater increment of 1.7%.

The food record was the solitary slow poke, declining for the third continuous month. Shoppers paid 1.3% less for food in December than they did around the same time a year back.

“An ongoing collapse in food prices continues to weigh heavily on overall inflation, with prices dipping again last month and now down a honking 2.8 per cent year over year at your local grocer, that’s the steepest fall since the early 1990s.,” BMO economist Doug Porter said. “On the flip side, gasoline prices are rising quickly, up 3.1 per cent and now up 5.5 per cent from the very low ebb a year ago.”