Canada's inflation in May exceeded expectations across the board

On June 25th, Statistics Canada said Tuesday that the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 2.9% year-on-year in May, up from 2.7% in April. The acceleration in the overall CPI was largely due to higher prices in the service sector, which rose by 4.6% in May, following a 4.2% increase in April. Mobile phone services, tourism, leasing and air transportation mainly influenced the rapid growth in service prices. Commodity prices (+ 1.0%) rose at the same rate as in April. On a month-on-month basis, the CPI rose by 0.6% in May, mainly due to an increase in travel spending.