TORONTO — Restaurateurs may be waiting for business to pick up when consumers’ disposable income increases, but they may have to keep waiting, as the Bank of Canada reports the inflation rate rose to 3.1 per cent in August, fuelled by increases in car insurance premiums, food purchased from restaurants as well as bakery and cereal products, reports CBC News.
“Despite the upside surprise to core inflation, the Bank of Canada appears in no rush to tighten given the economic and financial market headwinds that are currently blowing,” Sherry Cooper, chief economist for the BMO Financial Group was quoted as saying by CBC News. “But the appetite to ease now looks smaller.”
Statistics Canada reported gasoline prices increased by 22.8 per cent between August 2010 and August 2011, while food prices rose by 4.4 per cent in the same period. Consumers paid five per cent more for food purchased from stores and 2.7 per cent for restaurant meals.
For more on the rising inflation rate in Canada, visit cbc.ca.
