Some stubbornness at the gas pumps pushed the headline inflation rate a couple ticks higher to 1.9 per cent in August, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

Gasoline prices rose 1.4 per cent month-over-month in August as higher refining margins offset lower crude costs, StatCan said.

The price of gas was still down 12.7 per cent annually in August – the end of the consumer carbon price has deflated costs for motorists since the spring – but the decline fell short of July’s 16.1 per cent drop, pushing the headline inflation rate higher.

Heading into the release, economists had broadly expected inflation would rise to two per cent, from 1.7 per cent in July.

Stripping out gas prices, inflation came in at 2.4 per cent in August, down a tick from the past three months.

Inflation data show it wa

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