Alberta’s inflation rate is just under the national average, according to the latest Alberta Treasury Branch report.
The prices consumers pay in Alberta for a standard basket of goods and services — as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI)— rose by 3.3 per cent in April, compared to the same month last year.
According to ATB’s The Owl publication, this is slightly lower than the national inflation rate which came in at 3.4 per cent.
As noted by Statistics Canada, a large proportion of the increase is attributable to a steep decline in prices in April 2020 during the early days of the pandemic.
In April 2020, Alberta’s inflation rate fell 0.5 per cent, the first decline since March 2015 at the onset of the provincial recession of 2015-2016.
Gasoline prices in Alberta have fluctuated the most. After falling on a year-over-year basis by 45.7 per cent in April 2020 they rose by 85.8 per cent in April 2021.
If gasoline is excluded from the calculation, Alberta’s inflation rate in April was a more modest 1.5 per cent. Canada’s inflation rate, excluding gasoline, was 1.9 per cent, reports the ATB.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) represents changes in prices as experienced by Canadian consumers. It measures price change by comparing, through time, the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services.