Canada’s inflation rate jumped to 2.4 per cent in December, due largely to lower comparable prices during the GST/HST holiday a year earlier,

Statistics Canada said Monday. The agency said restaurant prices were the largest contributor to a rise in the all-items consumer price index (CPI), as prices for food purchased from restaurants increased 8.5 per cent.

Grocery prices were flat from November, but were up five per cent year over year.

Inflation had been 2.2 per cent in November, and economists expected it to remain unchanged in December.

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