Canada inflation flat in July

OTTAWA: Canadian consumer prices were flat in July as falling gasoline prices helped offset slight rises in other components, the government agency Statistics Canada reported Friday.

Price gains remained tame in Canada as the seasonally adjusted consumer price index held at 128.6 in July, after a 0.2 percent gain in June.

Core prices, those excluding food and energy, were up 0.2 percent, the same as the previous month, while the Bank of Canada's core index, watched more closely by monetary policymakers as an inflation indicator, rose only 0.1 percent.

For the 12 months through July, CPI inflation was 1.3 percent, down from 1.5 percent in June, with the higher cost of housing and food balanced by lower fuel prices.