OTTAWA: Inflation in Canada in May reached its fastest pace in a decade, driven by surging shelter and passenger vehicles prices, as the impact of the statistical comparison to tanking prices last year eased, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

Canada's annual inflation rate accelerated to 3.6%, from 3.4% in April, Statistics Canada said. That was slightly ahead of analyst expectations that the annual rate would rise to 3.5%.

The jump in inflation comes even as many Canadian provinces continued to face shutdowns in May amid a harsh third wave of COVID-19 infections. Most regions have now begun to reopen.

CPI common, which the Bank of Canada calls the best gauge of the economy's underperformance, was 1.8%, just below analyst expectations of 1.9%. CPI median was 2.4% and trim 2.7%.

The Bank of Canada targets the 2% mid-point of a 1-3% inflation control range. It expects inflation to stay around 3% through the summer before easing later in the year.

The Canadian dollar held on to modest gains after the data, trading at about 1.2176 to the US dollar, or 82.13 cents.