Canada’s  inflation rate slowed to 1.8 per cent in February, down from 2.3 per cent in January, as the end of the GST/HST holiday a year earlier caused headline inflation to decelerate.

In its latest consumer price index (CPI) report released Monday, Statistics Canada said the temporary sales tax exemption, which ended on Feb. 15, 2025, “resulted in monthly price increases for affected products in that month, which put downward pressure on year-over-year price change in February 2026.”

Economists had expected an inflation rate of 1.9 per cent. Even with deceleration from the base-year effect, the price of food purchased from restaurants rose 7.8 per cent year-over-year, while alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments climbed 6.8 per cent and toys, games and hobby supplies (excluding video games) was up 5.4 per cent.

Prices for food purchased from stores rose 4.1 per cent compared to a year earlier, down 4.8 per cent from January, driven by a “modest” deceleration in prices for fresh or frozen beef to 13.9 per cent in February after increasing 18.8 per cent in January.

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While growth slowed last month, Statistics Canada noted that

grocery prices have risen more than 30 per cent over the last five years. Gasoline prices  fell 14.2 per cent in February, a smaller year-over-year decline from January’s 16.7 per cent, due to the price of crude oil climbing in the lead-up to the war in Iran and supply disruptions in some producer countries.