RBC economists predict inflation slowed in January

Ahead of inflation data set to be released next week, economists at the Royal Bank of Canada say they expect price increases to slow in January.

In a report Friday, Nathan Janzen, the assistant chief economist at RBC, and Abbey Xu, an economist at RBC, said they anticipate Canada’s consumer price index to come in at 3.2 per cent in January, lower than 3.4 per cent a month earlier. The economists said they anticipate falling energy prices and slower growth for food prices to contribute to the overall decline. 

“Most of the deceleration we expect in price growth comes from lower energy prices, which the central bank has little to no control over,” the report said. 

“Food price growth also looks likely to ease as a large month-over-month surge in January 2023 falls outside of the year-over-year growth rate.”