Alberta rate of inflation higher than Canadian average

Consumer prices up 1.4% from last year…
The inflation rate in Alberta rose at a higher year-over-year rate than the rest of the country in September, according to Statistics Canada.
The federal agency reported Friday that consumer prices in the province were up 1.4 per cent in the 12 months to September while the Canadian average was 1.2 per cent.
Statistics Canada said higher energy prices, particularly for gasoline and electricity, led the advance in the Consumer Price Index for September. This was tempered by lower year-over-year price increases for the purchase of passenger vehicles and for food purchased from stores, it said.
On a monthly basis, prices in both Alberta and nationally rose by 0.2 per cent from August.
“Shoppers in Alberta continued to enjoy low overall price inflation in September, although they could be forgiven for feeling they weren’t getting such a good deal,” said Todd Hirsch, senior economist with ATB Financial.
The annual inflation rate in Alberta was higher than the 1.0 per cent increase posted in July.
“Alberta grocery shoppers may have gotten some pleasant surprises in the produce aisle. The year-over-year prices for fresh vegetables fell a whopping 11.9 per cent,” said Hirsch. “Food prices overall rose by only 1.3 per cent, slightly less than the overall inflation rate. And prices are much lower than a year ago for women’s clothing (4.3 per cent) and natural gas (24.7 per cent).
“But not everything felt like such a great deal for consumers. Gasoline prices were higher by 7.2 per cent, and electricity rose by nearly a fifth (19.9 per cent). And while it is possible to cut back a bit on the consumption of these two sources of energy, it is very difficult to go without gas and electricity altogether. The pinch felt from inflation on these non-discretionary items tends to feel worse.”
Energy prices across Canada advanced 2.9 per cent in the 12 months to September after rising 0.8 per cent in August, said Statistics Canada.
Gasoline prices rose 4.7 per cent in the 12 months to September, following a 2.2 per cent gain the previous month.
“The cost of electricity rose 6.0 per cent year over year in September after rising 3.4 per cent in August. Increases in Ontario and Alberta continued to lead the rise at the national level,” said the federal agency.
Excluding energy, the CPI rose 0.9 per cent in the 12 months to September, after rising 1.4 per cent in August.
The Bank of Canada’s core index rose 1.3 per cent in the 12 months to September, following a 1.6 per cent increase in August.
Derek Burleton, vice-president and deputy chief economist with TD Economics, said the data continues to point to little threat of inflation in Canada.
“While recent increases in natural gas prices are likely to exert some upward pressure on the CPI over the next few months, both overall and core rates of inflation are likely to remain sub-two per cent over the remainder of this year and into early 2013,” he said.
“Add to the benign inflation picture an economy stuck in a soft growth patch, and the deck has been cleared for the Bank of Canada to water down its conditionally hawkish language and provide a more neutral assessment of the economic outlook at next Tuesday’s (interest) rate announcement.”
 
By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald October 19, 2012