Canada's annual inflation rate fell to 1.8 per cent in February, Statistics Canada said on Monday, with the end of last year's "tax holiday" reflected in the year-over-year numbers but the Iran war still missing from the picture. Food prices saw the biggest slowdown, mostly driven by slower growth in prices for fresh and frozen beef. Gas prices likely to jump in March reportHowever, the full brunt of the war's impact, which began on the last day of February, won't be reflected until next month's inflation report. That would be "well above year-ago levels, driving headline inflation towards 3 per cent in [the] coming months," wrote Douglas Porter, chief economist at the Bank of Montreal, in a note to clients. "With most measures of core inflation close to the Bank's 2 per cent target, policymakers can more readily 'look through' the oil-driven spike that is surely coming to headline inflation in the next few months," wrote Porter.

Source: CBC News March 17, 2026 00:43 UTC