Canada inflation 1.9 percent going into election

Canada’s inflation rate held at 1.9 percent in September, the government statistical agency said Wednesday only days before Canadians vote in a general election fought in part over affordability concerns.

The figure came in slightly below expectations.

Along with strong jobs growth, the consumer price index bolsters forecasts that the world’s 10th largest economy won’t soon be impacted by the global slowdown.

CIBC analyst Royce Mendes said there were “no significant implications” in the economic data for the Bank of Canada.

That “suggests that we’ll be waiting until January for enough signs that a slowing global economy is impacting Canada enough to warrant a lone 25 bp (basis point) rate cut,” he said.

The central bank has maintained its key lending rate at 1.75 percent since raising it a notch in October 2018, as the economy kept ticking along.

But economic expansion in Europe, the US and China has sputtered.

And the IMF, after slashing its growth forecast to 3.0 percent, warned on Tuesday that the world economy is slowing to its weakest pace since the global financial crisis as Brexit and the US-China tariffs war undercut business confidence and investment.

According to Statistics Canada, Canadians paid more in September than a year earlier for passenger vehicles, mortgage interest, rent and restaurant meals.

Prices of gasoline, internet services, university tuition, telephone services and travel accommodations, however, fell