Canada's inflation rate cooled to seven per cent in August, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

Economists had been expecting the rate to come in at 7.3 per cent, after inflation rose to a 40-year high of 8.1 per cent earlier this summer.

Instead, the rate fell by even more than expected, mostly because gasoline got much cheaper during the month.

Gas prices fell by 9.6 per cent in August from where they were the previous month. That is the biggest one-month drop in gasoline prices since April 2020, when the pandemic was just beginning.

While gasoline got cheaper during the month, food prices continued their increase — the cost of groceries has risen has risen by 10.8 per cent in the past year.

That's the fastest increase in the typical grocery bill since 1981.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/inflation-canada-august-1.6588486