OTTAWA: Canada’s annual inflation rate rose at a faster pace in January, edging slightly ahead of analyst expectations on higher prices for durable goods and gasoline, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

The inflation rate accelerated to 1.0%, up from a year-on-year increase of 0.7% in December, and beating analyst expectations of 0.9%.

Durable goods prices rose 1.7%, while gasoline prices were up 6.1% amid oil production cuts, though they remain 3.3% lower than January 2020 levels.

“In the next few months, with the run-up in oil prices in particular and other commodities, and when we compare ourselves to what happened a year ago, we are going to get some very big inflation numbers,” said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

“So I think this is just an opening salvo in terms of what we are about to see for headline inflation.”