The consumer price index rose 2.9% year over year last month in Canada, higher than the 2.7% increase seen in April.
According to Statistics Canada, the acceleration in inflation growth is mainly attributable to the increase in the price of services. These increased by 4.6% in May, after increasing by 4.2% in April.
In this category, the largest increases were observed for the prices of cell phone services, package tours, rents and air transportation.
Food prices in grocery stores increased 1.5% year over year in May, representing a slight acceleration after a 1.4% increase in April.
The federal agency notes that “although slight, this acceleration in growth is the first observed since June 2023”.
In Quebec, inflation also accelerated from one year to the next last month, going from 3.0% in April to 3.1% in May.
The new inflation data is the first to be released since the Bank of Canada cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point earlier this month to 4.75%.
The data released Tuesday, along with those to be released in June, are expected to play a key role in the central bank’s next rate decision, scheduled for July 24.
