According to Statistics Canada’s report on Tuesday, the inflation rate in Canada, as indicated by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), eased to 2.8% annually in February from January’s 2.9%. This figure fell short of the market’s anticipated 3.1%. On a monthly basis, the CPI rose by 0.3% (from 0% in the previous month).

During the same period, the annual BoC’s Core CPI, which excludes the impact of volatile food and energy prices, rose by 2.1%, down from January’s 2.4%.

From the press release: “Prices for food purchased from stores continued to ease on a year-over-year basis in February (+2.4%) compared with January (+3.4%). Slower price growth was broad-based with prices for fresh fruit (-2.6%), processed meat (-0.6%) and fish (-1.3%) declining, while other food preparations (+1.4%), preserved fruit and fruit preparations (+4.0%), cereal products (+1.7%) and dairy products (+0.6%) decelerated in February.”