Spurred by steep gasoline prices and global supply chain disruptions, the inflation rate in Alberta was 4.0% in September, down from 4.7% in August.

The annual inflation rate was 1.7% in 2019 and 1.1% last year.

Excluding gasoline, Alberta’s inflation rate was 3.2% in September compared to 3.6% in August.

Nationally, the inflation rate moved in the opposite direction, going from 4.1% in August to 4.4% in September with inflation rising in 7 out of 10 provinces.

Compared to September of 2020, prices in Alberta were 21.8% higher for energy and 4.1% higher for food.

Some prices went down, including rented accommodation (-0.4%), household cleaning products (-1.2%), clothing and footwear (-1.4%), alcohol (-2.5%) and cannabis (-6.3%).

The key question going forward remains: how long will the elevated level of inflation last? With energy prices still high and supply chains still stressed, high inflation is almost certainly with us over the short-term.

The longer-term picture is, of course, less clear with some analysts arguing high inflation rates will stick around throughout 2022, if not longer, while others are holding to the theory that the current situation will be relatively short-lived with rates falling back below 3% as the disruptions caused by the pandemic dissipate.

If we are being honest, it is too early to say with certainty which way the inflation chips will fall.

Answer to the previous trivia question: The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era by Jeremy Rifkin came out in 1995.

Today’s trivia question: Hungary experienced a particularly bad bout of hyperinflation in July 1946 with a monthly inflation rate of 41.9 quadrillion percent (41,900,000,000,000,000%). At this rate how long did it take for prices to double: a) every 24 hours; b) every 15 hours; or c) every 3 hours)?