OTTAWA - Canada's annual inflation rate stayed anchored well below zero for the fourth consecutive month in September, but that beneficial aspect of the economic downturn is about to end.
The consumer price index slid by one-tenth of a point last month to minus-0.9 per cent -- matching a 53-year low that was also recorded in July, Statistics Canada reported Friday. The inflation rate in August was minus-0.8 per cent.
On a month-to-month basis, there was no change in the seasonally unadjusted consumer price index.
As has been the case for the better part of a year, it was the disparity in gasoline prices between last year and this year that was the main contributor to the negative inflation rate.
The cost of filling up at the pump was 23 per cent less in September than 12 months earlier.
But the gap is certain to close in the next inflation report, because it was at about this time last year that gasoline prices began falling in response to recessionary forces and the collapse in global oil demand.
No other component of the consumer price index has been as critical in suppressing inflationary pressures as energy, the agency noted.
Aside from energy, the annual inflation in Canada was well above zero in September at 1.3 per cent.
The low inflation rate was also influenced by the falling cost of autos, shelter and transportation. Canadians paid 5.9 per cent less for purchasing autos last month than a year ago, while shelter costs were 1.8 per cent lower and transportation costs fell 7.2 per cent.
But of the eight major components Statistics Canada uses to gauge inflation, five were in positive territory, including food, household operations, health and personal care, recreation and education, and alcohol and tobacco.
Food prices continued to be the main driver of inflation with a 2.8 per cent annual gain last month, although that is less than the four per cent increase registered in August. The biggest increases came in the price for fish, which rose 8.8 per cent, and for sugar and confectionery, up 8.7-per-cent.
The report is unlikely to cause any worries to the Bank of Canada that inflation will be a problem in the near future.
The core inflation index, which excludes volatile items such as gasoline, slipped to 1.5 per cent in September, below the central bank's target of 2.0 per cent.
Regionally, only Saskatchewan recorded positive inflation in September.
