Inflation Has Gone Up Again & It's The Biggest Increase Of The Cost Of Groceries In 40 Years

Hold onto your wallets because inflation in Canada has increased once again and the cost of groceries has gone up massively.

On May 18, Statistics Canada put out the Consumer Price Index for April 2022 and it showed that consumer prices in Canada rose by 6.8% year over year, largely driven by food and shelter costs.

Since last year, the cost of food has risen a whopping 9.7% and the rate of inflation for groceries in April was the highest it's been since September 1981 which is more than 40 years ago!

The CPI also found that Canadians are paying more for basically everything at the grocery store compared to last year.

That jump in price has been seen for a bunch of essentials too including meat (+10.1%), fresh fruit (+10.0%) and fresh vegetables (+8.2%).

The food items that had the biggest increase over the last year were starchy staples like pasta and bread, which saw a year-over increase of 19.6% and 12.2% respectively.

Other items that have gotten more expensive are cereal products (+13.9%), a cup of coffee (+13.7%) and rice (+7.4%).

One of the largest drivers of inflation in food is Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Since both countries are major exporters of wheat, it has put pressure on grocery items with wheat.

Along with the conflict, bad weather and higher prices for both natural gas and fertilizer have put a financial strain on farmers which is driving costs up for consumers.

Food isn't the only thing that has been affected by continued inflation in Canada.

The cost of shelter in the country rose by 7.4% in April, a byproduct of the surge in the cost of natural gas (+22.2%) and other fuels (+64.4%) used to heat homes.

With the cost of nearly everything going up, there is still hope. The Bank of Canada has increased the national interest rate in an attempt to slow inflation.