Bank of Canada survey finds Canadians overestimating inflation
BNN Bloomberg
Canadian consumers believe inflation is higher than it actually is, and they expect it to remain high despite data showing that it’s on its way down, a Bank of Canada survey has found.
The central bank released the results of its survey of consumer expectations for the third quarter of 2023 on Monday, attributing the large perception gap to the price tags consumers face in stores.
“The gap between perceptions of inflation and actual inflation is unusually wide,” the central bank said in a written overview of the findings. “This is likely because many consumers form their views based on their own shopping experience. Households with a large gap expect high price growth for essentials like food and housing.”
Households that reported a large gap between perceived and actual inflation expected high price growth to continue for essentials like food, housing and gasoline, with inflation expectations for those items “either rising or stable at very high levels,” the Bank of Canada said.
