Stats Canada announced the CPI numbers for December and all of 2009, and the trend that started in November got a little more momentum with the CPI for 2009 being 1.3% (over 12 months), and Gasoline sits front and center again as an issue.
The rise in the all-items Consumer Price Index (CPI) was due primarily to gasoline prices, which exerted upward pressure on the CPI for the second consecutive month. This follows an extended period in which they were the main contributors to year-over-year declines in overall consumer prices.
For the year, the big price jumpers were:
- Energy given we are back at $1 per liter this is no surprise there
- Transportation given gas prices again, no surprise, although the cost of mass transit is going up a lot too
- Health and Personal Care this one really worries me, if health care costs keep doubling the average on inflation, we older folks might be in trouble come retirement time
- Alcoholic Beverages not as high as health care, but you can at least give us a chance to drown our sorrows? C’mon!!!
See the big table for the numbers.
The Big CPI Table
I like this table because it shows you all the ugly numbers together:
| Relative import | Dec 2008 |
Nov 2009 |
Dec 2009 |
Nov to Dec 2009 | Dec 2008 to Dec 2009 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unadjusted | ||||||
| % change | ||||||
| All-items | 100.00 | 113.3 | 115.2 | 114.8 | -0.3 | 1.3 |
| Food | 17.04 | 119.8 | 121.5 | 121.8 | 0.2 | 1.7 |
| Shelter | 26.62 | 123.4 | 121.3 | 121.3 | 0.0 | -1.7 |
| Household operations, furnishings and equipment | 11.10 | 105.5 | 108.5 | 107.5 | -0.9 | 1.9 |
| Clothing and footwear | 5.36 | 91.3 | 95.1 | 90.6 | -4.7 | -0.8 |
| Transportation | 19.88 | 110.3 | 115.4 | 115.5 | 0.1 | 4.7 |
| Health and personal care | 4.73 | 109.9 | 113.6 | 113.2 | -0.4 | 3.0 |
| Recreation, education and reading | 12.20 | 101.2 | 103.7 | 102.8 | -0.9 | 1.6 |
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco products | 3.07 | 128.7 | 131.3 | 131.2 | -0.1 | 1.9 |
| All-items (1992=100) | 134.9 | 137.2 | 136.6 | -0.4 | 1.3 | |
| Special aggregates | ||||||
| Goods | 48.78 | 106.5 | 108.6 | 107.6 | -0.9 | 1.0 |
| Services | 51.22 | 120.1 | 121.8 | 121.8 | 0.0 | 1.4 |
| All-items excluding food and energy | 73.57 | 111.0 | 112.2 | 111.7 | -0.4 | 0.6 |
| Energy | 9.38 | 123.0 | 132.4 | 130.3 | -1.6 | 5.9 |
| Core CPI | 82.71 | 112.6 | 114.7 | 114.3 | -0.3 | 1.5 |
2005 CPI basket weights at April 2007 prices, Canada, effective May 2007. Detailed weights are available under the Documentation section of survey 2301 (www.statcan.gc.ca/imdb-bmdi/index-eng.htm).
The measure of Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) excludes from the all-items CPI the effect of changes in indirect taxes and eight of the most volatile components identified by the Bank of Canada: fruit, fruit preparations and nuts; vegetables and vegetable preparations; mortgage interest cost; natural gas; fuel oil and other fuel; gasoline; inter-city transportation; and tobacco products and smokers’ supplies. For additional information on Core CPI, consult the Bank of Canada website (www.bankofcanada.ca/en/inflation/index.htm).
Inflation in 2009
- Inflation Edges Up in December 2009 for the first time in a while
- How do you spell INFLATION? In November, evidently, it looked like it might start again
- Consumer Price Index is Trending Up Again in October of 2009
- CPI: How Many Negatives Make it Deflation? a good question for September 2009
- CPI Down Again (kind of) for August of 2009. Is that really deflation?
- Deflation again! CPI Down for July (sort of) really deflation? Not really.
- Inflation down 0.3% for June most of this in June 2009 is caused by gasoline pricing silliness.
- Consumer Price Index for May 2009: Nudges Up but overall it keeps looking like not much
- CPI For April 2009 at 0.4% Wow , calm down big fella it is not that good news
- Consumer Price Index Down a Little for March 2009 which is a good thing, don’t you think?
- Inflation Jumps for February 2009, did it really?
