Over a six-week period, as part of the ‘Out of Pocket’ series, Global News is examining how inflation is impacting Canadians from coast to coast. Canadians feeling their dollars stretched between high inflation and a rapid rise in borrowing costs have likely been asking the same question for months now: when will it end?
After a year that saw prices at the gas pump top $2 per litre in some parts of Canada and grocery bills soar as inflation hit highs not seen in 41 years, economists have seemed a bit more optimistic in their forecasts in 2023.
Read more: Inflation has ‘squeezed’ Canadian wallets dry. What happened? Read next: Part of the Sun breaks free and forms a strange vortex, baffling scientists Inflation has been on the “downward slope” for months now, says Armine Yalnizyan, economist and fellow with the Atkinson Foundation.
Annual inflation seemed to peak for this cycle at 8.1 per cent in June of last year, cooling to 6.3 per cent in the December reading, according to Statistics Canada.