Gas prices up across the country, cost of living drops in BC

VICTORIA – Statistics Canada says a modest easing in the rate of gasoline price hikes in May helped curb the national inflation rate to 1.3 per cent last month, from 1.6 per cent in April.

Number crunchers say the cost of gas across the country rose 6.8 per cent last month — well below the nearly 16 per cent jump posted in April — and the slowdown, along with lower prices for things such as Internet access services, nudged inflation downward.

The cost of living was also lower in BC in May — dipping to 1.9 per cent from 2.1 per cent the month earlier, but this province still has one of the highest inflation rates in the country, trailing only Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Whitehorse, Yukon.

StatsCan says inflation in Vancouver and Victoria also edged downward last month, with Vancouver’s rate slipping one tenth of a point to 1.8 per cent while inflation in Victoria was set at two per cent in May, down from its 2.3 per cent setting in April.

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