Canada's inflation rate up to 0.7% in May

Driven by higher shelter costs, Canada's inflation rate rose to 0.7 percent in May, Statistics Canada announced here on Friday. The result was higher than April's 0.4 percent, but a little bit lower than the economists' expectation of 0.9 percent. Shelter costs, especially natural gas prices played a key role in the advance of the month. After 25 consecutive declines, the natural gas index recorded in May its third year-over-year gain in four months, which read 15. 4 percent, the largest increase since December 2008. Shelter costs rose 1.3 percent, matching the increase in April. Four other major components of Consumer Price Index out of eight, including food, increased in the 12 months to May. However, transportation prices went on its way on the down trend, due to continuous lower gasoline prices. Despite the higher reading of CPI in the month, it is still well below the level that the policymakers would like it to be in a healthy economy. The Bank of Canada's core CPI index, which excludes the most volatile components of CPI, rose 1.1 percent in May, compare to the same period of last year, no change from April.