Canada's inflation rate fell to 0.9 percent in March amid a pandemic lockdown and a sharp drop in oil prices, the government statistical agency said Wednesday.
The year-over-year rate was lower than analysts forecast, after prices rose 2.2 percent in February and then "decelerated the most since September 2006," said Statistics Canada.
The slowdown was mainly due to an 11.6 percent drop in energy prices that saw consumers pay significantly less for gasoline and other fuels, it said.
Oil prices plummeted "as a result of lower demand as global economic activity, trade and travel slowed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as an oversupply of oil amid tensions between oil-producing nations."
The crisis in the oil markets caused by the coronavirus was compounded by a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
While the pair drew a line under the row and led producers into slashing output by 10 million barrels a day, that has not been enough to prevent historic price falls.
Despite the cuts and low demand, production is still high and storage is nearing a bursting point. Excluding energy, Canada's Consumer Price Index actually rose 1.7 percent in March.
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