OTTAWA, March 21 (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate cooled more than expected in February, as a drop in gas prices and softer growth in shelter costs helped bring the consumer price index to its lowest level since January 2022, Statistics Canada data showed on Tuesday.
The annual inflation rate dropped to 5.2% in February, beating economists' forecast that it would fall to 5.4% from 5.9% in January. Month-over-month, the consumer price index was up 0.4%, again lower than a forecast 0.5% gain.
Excluding food and energy, prices rose 4.8% compared with a rise of 4.9% in January.
The average of two of the Bank of Canada's core measures of underlying inflation, CPI-median and CPI-trim, came in at 4.9% compared with 5.1% in January.
Statscan cited a base effect, or comparison with last year's strong result, that should persist through June. In February 2022, prices surged at a time of Russia-Ukraine tensions and supply chain disruptions, and they increased to a peak of 8.1% in June.
