Statistics Canada said the consumer price index increased 3.4 per cent in December from a year earlier, compared with 3.1 per cent the previous month. For all of 2023, the index rose 3.9 per cent, down from 6.8 per cent in 2022, but otherwise it was the biggest annual gain in the cost of living since 1991. (The Logic) 

Talking point: The re-acceleration of inflation isn’t as bad as it looks on the surface—gasoline prices were falling faster at the end of 2022 than at the end of 2023, so the year-over-year comparison was influenced by what economists call “base-year effects.” When excluding gasoline, the index increased 3.5 per cent in December, down from 3.6 per cent in November but still some distance from the Bank of Canada’s target of two per cent. Rent accelerated to an annualized rate of 7.7 per cent, while food was unchanged from November at 4.7 per cent. The Bank of Canada probably is done raising interest rates, but it will need more evidence that inflation is retreating before it will be willing to lower them.