Overall Prices Rise 5.9%, Food Inflation Increases Again

Chicken prices rose 9% month-over-month, the largest increase in nearly 40 years.

Inflation in Canada remains far above the 2-3% Bank of Canada target.

The latest increase in the CPI was 5.9%, down from 6.3% in the previous reading.

Food price surge

However, food prices increased even more up 10.4% in January compared to 10.1% in December of 2022.

Chicken prices were up 9.0% between December 2022 and January 2023, which is the largest one-month increase since 1986.

Overall meat prices were up 7.3%, after the largest month-over-month increase since 2004.

Year over year prices for diary products, bakery products, and vegetables were up 12.4%, 15.5%, and 14.7% respectively.

Gas prices were up 2.9%.

The increase in shelter costs slowed slightly, from 7.0% in December to 6.6% in January.

However, Stats Canada noted that the mortgage interest costs surged:

“At the same time, the mortgage interest cost index continued to rise at a faster year-over-year pace amid the higher interest rate environment, rising 21.2% in January, the largest increase since September 1982, following an 18.0% increase in December.”

Overall, while inflation has slowed slightly, prices are still rising and prices of some of the most essential items are rising even faster than before.

Spencer Fernando