China News Service, Toronto, June 22 (Reporter Yu Ruidong) Data released by Statistics Canada on the 22nd showed that the country's consumer price index (CPI) in May this year rose by 7.7% compared with the same period last year, refreshing the level since January 1983. A record increase in inflation.

　　Gasoline prices rose about 12 per cent month-on-month in May, largely contributing to the continued rise in inflation, Statistics Canada said.

The Canadian Bureau of Statistics blamed the rise in crude oil prices on supply chain uncertainty caused by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as increased tourism and demand after the relaxation of epidemic prevention measures.

　　Excluding the gasoline factor, the year-on-year increase in CPI in May was also as high as 6.3%.

Rising hotel and catering service prices, food prices and housing costs are also important factors driving up the CPI.

The price of retail food increased by 9.7% year-on-year, of which the price of edible fat and food oil increased by a record high of 30%.

　　In May, the CPI increased by 1.4% from the previous month, which was higher than the month-on-month increase in April.

The seasonally adjusted CPI rose 1.1% month-on-month, the highest since the data began in 1992.

　　Separately, the country’s average hourly earnings rose 3.9% in May from a year earlier, according to Labour Force Survey data.

This suggests that prices have risen faster than wages over the past year.

　　Statistics Canada released data a day earlier that Canada had a record 957,500 job vacancies in the first quarter of this year.

Among them, job openings in areas such as health care and social assistance, construction, manufacturing and retail are all record peaks.

　　Canadian media generally believe that high inflation levels continue to push up the possibility of the Bank of Canada raising interest rates by 75 basis points when it discusses interest rates in mid-July, although monetary policy cannot solve key problems such as supply chains.

The Bank of Canada has raised interest rates three times in a row since March in a bid to curb inflation.

(Finish)