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Statistics Canada updates CPI basket weights based on 2021 spending patterns

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada has updated the basket of goods it uses to calculate its consumer price index and inflation.
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People wait in line to enter a clothing store in a shopping mall in Montreal, Saturday, January 15, 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada. Statistics Canada has updated the basket of goods it uses to calculate its consumer price index and inflation. The agency says the the basket weights have been updated to reflect the relative importance of the goods and services bought by Canadian households, based on spending in 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada has updated the basket of goods it uses to calculate its consumer price index and inflation.

The agency says the basket weights have been updated to reflect the relative importance of the goods and services bought by Canadian households, based on spending in 2021.

The previous basket weights were based on 2020 purchasing patterns.

Statistics Canada also says it has found a reliable data source for the sale of used vehicles that will be incorporated into the calculation of CPI starting with the release of its May figures next week.

The update comes as inflation sits at its highest rate in more than three decades. The annual pace of inflation hit 6.8 per cent in April, its highest level since January 1991.

CPI is a key economic indicator used by the Bank of Canada when it sets its interest rate target. The index is also used when adjustments are made to many private and public pension programs, income tax deductions and some government social payments.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2022.

The Canadian Press