Consumer Price Index Monthly

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Consumer Price Index, December 2024

This monthly release of the The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Canada, the provinces, Whitehorse and Yellowknife, provides a descriptive summary of retail price movements, inflation rates and the factors underlying them.

PEI and Canada Consumer Price Index

Graph showing All-Items CPI for Canada and Prince Edward Island, November 2023 to December 2024

All-Items Consumer Price Index by Province

Table showing All-Items CPI, year-over-year and monthly change for Canada and provinces, December 2024

Statistics Canada reported that the year-over-year change in the All-Items Consumer Price Index (CPI) for P.E.I. was 0.4 per cent in December 2024. This was the lowest year-over-year increase among provinces. Year-over-year prices rose at a slower pace in December than in November in 6 provinces. The change to the All-items index for P.E.I. as compared to November 2024 was -1.4 per cent. This compares to 1.8 per cent year-over-year and -0.4 per cent monthly changes for Canada.

Leading contributors to year-over-year price increases for P.E.I. were rent (6.5%), followed by mortgage interest cost1, gasoline (1.5%), passenger vehicle insurance premiums (5.6%), and cigarettes (5.3%). These increases were partially offset by year-over-year declines for fuel oil and other fuels (-16.7%), food purchased from restaurants (-3.0%), inter-city transportation (-8.0%), recreational equipment and services excluding recreational vehicles (-7.4%), and traveler accommodation (-10.6%). 

The monthly change in the All-Items CPI for PEI in December 2024 was -1.4 per cent. Higher prices for inter-city transportation (24.7%), rent (1.6%), passenger vehicle insurance premiums (2.4%), fresh vegetables (3.9%), and purchase and leasing of passenger vehicles (0.4%) were more than offset by lower prices for food purchased from restaurants (-7.7%), traveler accommodation (-18.9%), gasoline (-2.0%), women's clothing (-6.5%), and recreational equipment and services excluding recreational vehicles (-5.1%).

Year-over-year prices either decreased or increased at a slower pace in December than in November in all of the 8 major CPI components. Health and personal care and shelter costs led increases, rising by 3.0 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively. 

The cost for food (from both stores and restaurants) decreased year-over-year for the first time since May 2018, down 1.5 per cent as compared to December 2023. Food purchased from restaurants was down 3.0 percent year-over-year in December, down from a 5.3 percent increase in November. This was due largely to the temporary GST/HST break on certain goods introduced on December 14, 2024. Food purchased from stores decreased 0.5 percent, down from a 2.2 percent increase in November. Prices for vegetables and vegetable preparations (+3.3%) rose at a faster pace in December than in November, while price increases slowed for dairy products and eggs (+0.2%). Prices for meat products (-1.2%), fish, seafood other marine products (-2.5%), bakery and cereal products excluding baby food (-0.3%), fruit, fruit preparations and nuts (-2.8%), and other food products and non-alcoholic beverages (-1.1%) declined on a year-over-year basis in December.
 

December 2024 Prince Edward Island CPI, Eight Major Components and Energy

Table showing year-over-year and monthly change in CPI major components for PEI.

Energy2 costs decreased by 2.1 per cent year-over-year, matching the decline in November. Excluding energy, PEI’s CPI increased 0.6 percent year-over-year. The year-over-year increase in the All-items excluding energy index for Canada was 1.9 percent.

December 2024 CPI All-Items and All-Items Excluding Energy, Year-Over-Year Change, Canada and Provinces

Graph showing All-Items CPI and All-Items CPI excluding Energy for Canada and Provinces.

NATIONAL

Nationally, the All-Items CPI rose 1.8 percent on a year-over-year basis in December, down from a 1.9 percent increase in November. Food purchased from restaurants and alcoholic beverages purchased from stores contributed the most to the deceleration, due to the temporary GST/HST break. The CPI excluding food rose 2.1 per cent in December. Shelter costs grew at a slightly slower pace in December, rising 4.5 per cent year-over-year, down from 4.6 per cent in November. Gasoline prices rose 3.5 per cent in December, up from a 0.5 per cent decline in November. The increase was mainly the result of a base-year effect as prices declined 4.4 per cent in December 2023, when there was uncertainty regarding oil demand coupled with high levels of supply, which put downward pressure on prices.

On a monthly basis, national CPI was down 0.4 per cent in December, following no change in November.
 

For more information on the December 2024 CPI, as well as links to data tables, please refer to Statistics Canada’s release for the Consumer Price Index, December 2024.

 

PEI / CANADA CONSUMER PRICE INDEX ANNUAL 2024
 

The change in the All-Items Consumer Price Index annual average for P.E.I. in 2024 was 1.8 per cent as compared to 2023, down from a 2.9 per cent increase in 2023. Along with Newfoundland and Labrador, which also saw a 1.8 per cent increase, this was the third lowest annual increase among provinces behind Manitoba (1.1%) and Saskatchewan (1.4%). 

Increases occurred in five of the eight major components, with health and personal care (3.8 per cent), food (3.5 per cent), and shelter (3.0 per cent) seeing the largest increases. Energy prices on P.E.I. decreased by 1.6 per cent over 2023, with prices for fuel oil and other fuels falling by 10.1 per cent and gasoline prices falling 0.1 per cent. Electricity increased by 4.6 per cent in 2024. 

Prices for food purchased from stores increased 2.6 per cent, led by a 5.0 per cent increase in prices for vegetables and vegetable preparations and a 3.2 per cent increase in dairy products and eggs. Prices for fish, seafood and other marine products decreased 3.8 per cent.

Core inflation (all items excluding energy and food) increased 1.9 per cent in 2024.

Annual 2024 Prince Edward Island CPI, Major Components, Energy and Core

Graph showing annual CPI change for PEI major components

Nationally, all provinces saw headline inflation increase in 2024 but at a slower pace as compared to 2023. Alberta posted the largest increase in annual average CPI at 2.9 per cent, followed by British Columbia at 2.6 per cent and Ontario at 2.4 per cent. Manitoba saw the lowest increase at 1.1 per cent. 

The annual average increase for Canada was 2.4 per cent, following an increase of 3.9 per cent in 2023. Increases occurred in six of the eight major components, led by increases in shelter costs (5.7 per cent) and health and personal care costs (3.2 per cent). Energy decreased by 0.6 per cent compared to 2023, while core inflation for Canada was 2.6 per cent in 2024.


For more information on the Annual 2024 CPI, as well as links to data tables, please refer to Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index, Annual Review 2024.
 

 

Related downloads for this release:

Monthly Consumer Price Index Report PDF (87KB)

1 Data not published at the provincial level

2 The special aggregate "energy" includes: "electricity", "natural gas", ",fuel oil and other fuels", "gasoline", and "fuel, parts and accessories for recreational vehicles".

Visit the Consumer Price Index Portal to find all CPI data, publications, interactive tools, and announcements highlighting new products and upcoming changes to the CPI in one convenient location.

The CPI for January 2024 will be released on February 18, 2025.

Source: Statistics Canada.

Table 18-10-0004-01, Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted

Table 18-10-0005-01 Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted

Date de publication : 
le 21 Janvier 2025
Finances

Renseignements généraux

Ministère des Finances
Immeuble Shaw, 2e étage (sud)
95, rue Rochford
C.P. 2000
Charlottetown (Î.-P.-É.) C1A 7N8

Téléphone : 902-368-4040
Télécopieur : 902-368-6575

DeptFinance@gov.pe.ca