OTTAWA, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Canadian consumer price index (CPI) rose 4.1 percent on a year-over-year basis in August, the largest increase since March 2003, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.
It was a jump compared with a gain of 3.7-percent in July.
The increase in prices mainly stems from an accumulation of recent price pressures and from lower price levels in 2020.
Excluding gasoline prices that rose year over year by 32.5 percent in August, the annual inflation rate would have been 3.2 percent year over year.
The monthly CPI climbed 0.2 percent in August, down from a 0.6-percent increase in July. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.4 percent.
Statistics Canada said homeowner replacement costs, which is related to the price of new homes, rose at an annual rate of 14.3 percent in August.
The pace of housing prices was the fastest yearly increase since September 1987, and marked the fourth consecutive month of double-digit price growth.
Also driving up prices in August was rising prices for meat, which rose year over year by 6.9 percent, the fastest pace since June 2020 partly because of growing demand from restaurants.
The CPI has been on an upward swing since the start of this year and above the Bank of Canada's target range of between 1 and 3 percent.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country last year, durable goods have been a major contributor to the increase of the CPI.
Durable goods jumped 5.6 percent in August from July's increase of 5 percent, with passenger vehicles jumping 7.2 percent, furniture up 8.7 percent and household appliances up 5.3 percent.
In addition, prices for services have accelerated for the fifth consecutive month, rising 2.7 percent in August from the previous month's rise of 2.7 percent amid the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. Enditem
