Note that  energy prices continue to reflect the impact of the conflict in the Middle East.

Nova Scotia’s all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew 5.2% year-over-year in May 2026, up 0.9 percentage points from the previous month. This was the fastest pace of all-items year-over-year price inflation since February 2023.

Nationally, consumer prices grew 3.2% year-over-year in May 2026, up 0.4 percentage points from the previous month. Inflation was fastest in Nova Scotia and slowest in Ontario.

The most significant upward contributors (combining price increase as well as share of the consumption basket) to Nova Scotia's 5.2% year-over-year inflation were: gasoline, fuel oil and other fuels, rent, food purchased from restaurants, and purchase and operation of recreational vehicles.

The largest downward year-over-year contributions were from: furniture, financial services, electricity, household appliances, and travel tours.

On a monthly basis, Nova Scotia's all items CPI was up 1.0% from April 2026 to May 2026. National prices were up 1.0% on average. The fastest rate of monthly increase was in British Columbia, with the slowest rise in Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.

Major upward contributors to Nova Scotia's monthly consumer prices were: gasoline, traveller accommodation, telephone services, inter-city transportation, and rent. Major downward contributors were: fuel oil and other fuels, household appliances, processed meat, fresh or frozen chicken, and women's clothing.

Energy prices play a significant role in inflation rates. Nova Scotia's energy prices (and overall inflation) are more sensitive to fluctuations in the global price of crude oil. Nova Scotia's energy prices were up 25.6% from May 2025 to May 2026. Year-over-year energy prices were up 22.2% nationally with all provinces reporting increasing energy prices (fastest: Prince Edward Island, slowest: Québec).

On a monthly basis, Nova Scotia's energy prices were up 3.0% from April 2026 to May 2026. National energy prices were up 3.3% with every province reporting higher prices compared to the previous month, led by Saskatchewan.

In May 2026, gasoline prices were up 34.3% compared to a year ago in Nova Scotia, more than the national average increase of 33.2%. All provinces reported increases, with Ontario reporting largest increase in gas prices year-over-year, and Québec the slowest.

Gasoline prices were up 6.1% from April to May in Nova Scotia. Nationally gasoline prices were up 5.6% with all provinces reporting higher prices, led by Saskatchewan.  Québec reported the slowest monthly increase in gasoline prices.

Nova Scotia's year-over-year fuel oil prices were up 45.3% in May 2026 compared with May 2025. Nationally, the fuel oil and other fuels price index increased 45.6% compared to May 2025 with all provinces, led by New Brunswick, reporting increases. 

On a monthly basis, Nova Scotia's fuel oil prices were down 3.1% compared to April 2026. National fuel oil prices were down 3.7% from April to May, with decreases in seven provinces, with Québec reporting the fastest monthly decrease, and Manitoba the largest monthly increase.

Food prices increased 3.3% in Nova Scotia year-over-year, below national average food price inflation of 3.8% in May 2026. Food prices were up in every province, led by Manitoba. 

On a monthly basis, Nova Scotia's food prices rose 0.5% from April to May. National food prices were up 0.7% with growth in every province except Newfoundland and Labrador. Ontario reported the largest monthly increase in food prices.

Food and energy prices are heavily influenced by volatile global commodity markets. Nova Scotia's underlying inflation rate excluding food and energy was 2.9% from May 2025 to May 2026. Nationally, inflation excluding food and energy was 1.6% with year-over-year increases in all provinces. Manitoba reported the fastest increase in inflation excluding food and energy prices (followed closely by Nova Scotia), while Prince Edward Island and Ontario reported the slowest growth.

On a monthly basis, Nova Scotia's prices for all items excluding food and energy were up 0.8% from April to May. Nationally, prices for all items excluding food and energy were up 0.7% with every province reporting increases led by British Columbia. The slowest rate of inflation excluding food and energy prices was in Saskatchewan.

Year-over-year shelter cost inflation was 6.6% in Nova Scotia in May 2026. National shelter prices were up 1.7% with increases in all provinces. Nova Scotia had the fastest increase in shelter prices, while Ontario reported the slowest increase.

Monthly shelter costs were up 0.1% in Nova Scotia from April to May. Nationally, shelter costs were down 0.1% as four provinces reported declines. Newfoundland and Labrador had the fastest monthly increase in shelter prices, while Alberta had the largest decline.

Among detailed food products with available data, Nova Scotia's year-over-year inflation was fastest for beef and coffee/tea. Year-over-year price declines were reported for cheese, fats/oils, eggs and processed meat.

In detailed shelter cost components, the fastest year-over-year growth was for reported for fuel oil/other fuels and water.  

Household operations/furnishings costs were down 1.3% overall. The largest year-over-year price increase was for child care/housekeeping and textiles, while prices fell the most for utensils/tableware/cookware and furniture.

Clothing and footwear prices were up 6.2% year-over-year in May as all sub-components grew except for clothing materials/services and children's clothing, with the fastest price growth in clothing accessories/jewellery.

Health and personal care costs were up 3.5% year-over-year on gains in all sub-components except non-prescribed medicine. Personal care services and supplies reported the largest price increases.

Overall transportation costs were up 10.2% year-over-year in May due in large part to an increase in gasoline prices. The only decrease was in taxis/other local transportation, while city bus and vehicle registration prices were unchanged.

Nova Scotia's overall prices for recreation, education and reading were up 5.2% from May 2025 to May 2026 with the fastest increase for purchase/operation of recreational vehicles. The only decline was in reading (excluding textbooks).

Nova Scotia's prices for alcohol, tobacco and recreational cannabis were up 0.7% year-over-year. The largest increase was in beer from stores, while there was a large decrease in the price of cannabis.

Trends

Since the start of the Bank of Canada's inflation-targeting monetary policy regime, inflation for all items has generally been in the 0-4% range. Periods of above target inflation are typically followed by periods of slow price growth or declines. The most recent acceleration in inflation was the strongest since the inflation-targeting era began, though this inflation has receded with tighter monetary policy and lower commodity prices. Nova Scotia's May 2026 all-items inflation rate of 5.2% was the fastest pace of year-over-year inflation since February 2023.

Many of these periods of accelerated and slowed inflation are attributable to volatile commodity prices, especially energy prices. Once the more volatile commodity prices are excluded, inflation in Nova Scotia has largely been below 2% for much of the last 20 years. However, the recent rise in inflation through 2021-2024 spread beyond commodity prices, resulting in the longest period under the Bank of Canada's inflation-targeting regime with Nova Scotia's CPI excluding food and energy above 3%. After decelerating in 2024, Nova Scotia's CPI excluding food and energy rose in 2025 and has remained above 2%. 

The Bank of Canada examines 'core' measures of inflation that are intended to remove the effects of volatile components and capture underlying inflation trends that are more connected to capacity in the Canadian economy. Core measures of inflation August also indicate where all items inflation is headed. 

Canada's core measures of inflation remained mostly at or below the Bank's target of 2% for over a decade prior to 2021. However, core inflation measures rose in 2022, peaking at over 6% for the CPI-common measure before declining around the beginning of 2023. Core measures of inflation began to rise toward the end of 2024.

The Bank of Canada's year-over-year core inflation measures in May 2026 were:

• CPI-common: 2.7% (up from 2.5% in the previous month)
• CPI-median: 2.1% (unchanged from the previous month)
• CPI-trim: 2.0% (unchanged from the previous month)

The core CPI excluding volatile products and the effects of indirect taxes was up 2.2% (up from 2.1% the previous month).

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0004-01  Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted; Table 18-10-0256-01  Consumer Price Index (CPI) statistics, measures of core inflation and other related statistics - Bank of Canada definitions

Year-over-year (May 2026 vs May 2025)

All items: Consumer prices in Nova Scotia increased 5.2%, up 0.9 percentage points from inflation in the previous month. The national average inflation was 3.2%. In Halifax consumer prices increased 4.8%.

All items excluding food and energy: Nova Scotia consumer prices outside of food and energy increased 2.9%. This was above the national average increase of 1.6%.

Month-over-month (May 2026 vs April 2026)

All items: Consumer prices in Nova Scotia were up 1.0% in May 2026 compared with April 2026. Nationally, consumer prices were up 1.0% compared to the previous month. In Halifax consumer prices were up 1.0%.

All items excluding food and energy: Nova Scotia consumer prices excluding food and energy were up 0.8% month over month in May 2026. Nationally, consumer prices outside of food and energy were also up 0.7% compared to April 2026.

Source: Statistics Canada.  Table  18-10-0004-01   Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted

BACKGROUND

Statistics Canada has released their regular update for Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket weights and composition, available here. The updated basket weights will be used with the release of May 2026 CPI on June 22, 2026.

CPI basket quantities are fixed to the reference period of the basket weights which are used to estimate consumer expenditures for the upper-level aggregation. Larger weights represent a large share of expenditures on the category. Price changes for products with larger weights will have a larger impact on headline CPI.

2025 WEIGHTS 

Among the eight major components of the CPI basket, Nova Scotia had the lowest basket share for food at 16.38%. Nationally the share was 16.93% with the highest share in Prince Edward Island.

Shelter represented the largest share of the CPI basket across the country. Nova Scotia's CPI basket share for shelter was 27.09%, lower than the national average. British Columbia and Ontario had notably higher shares of shelter expenditures. The lowest basket share for shelter were in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Nova Scotia's CPI basket share for household operations and furnishings was 11.64%, below the national average of 12.80%. New Brunswick had the highest share of expenditures in this component of CPI.

Nova Scotia's CPI basket share for clothing and footwear was 3.78%, lowest among provinces. Québec had the highest basket share in 2025.

Transportation reflects 20.01% of expenditures in the CPI basket in Nova Scotia, higher than the national average of 18.54% in 2025. The lowest basket share for transportation was in British Columbia and the highest was in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Nova Scotia's basket share for health and personal care was the second highest among provinces at 6.41% in 2025 (after New Brunswick). The national average for this component was at 5.40%. Alberta reported the lowest basket share for this component in 2025.

Nova Scotia had the second highest basket share for recreation, education and reading among provinces (10.62%) after Manitoba. Newfoundland and Labrador had the lowest expenditure share for this component in their 2025 CPI basket. 

Alcoholic beverages, tobacco products and recreational cannabis typically represent the smallest share of the CPI basket in a given province (exception: Newfoundland and Labrador where the lowest is health/personal). In 2025, 4.07% of the CPI basket in Nova Scotia was for expenditures in this component, higher than the national average of 3.73%. Ontario had the lowest basket share in this component among provinces. 

The Atlantic provinces have higher basket shares for energy products than other provinces. In 2025, 10.24% of the CPI basket in Nova Scotia was for energy expenditures. Nationally, this was 6.68% in 2025.

Nova Scotia had smaller basket shares for food purchased from stores and for food purchased from restaurants compared to the national average.

Basket shares for the shelter component of CPI were typically lower in Nova Scotia compared to the national average (exceptions: rent, home/mortgage insurance, maintenance/repairs, fuel/oil, electricity). Fuel oil and other fuels basket share was notably higher in Nova Scotia compared to the national average.

Household operations had lower basket shares in Nova Scotia for most components compared to the national average except for telephone services, paper/plastic/aluminum supplies, and appliances.

Clothing and footwear reflected a lower basket share in Nova Scotia compared to Canada, except for women's clothing.

Transportation had higher basket shares for purchase and leasing of passenger vehicles, gasoline, and inter-city transportation.

Health and personal care basket shares were higher in Nova Scotia for all sub-components except personal care services.

Among recreation, education and reading, Nova Scotia's CPI basket shares were above national average for purchase and operation of recreation vehicles, reading and education.

Alcohol purchased from stores and cigarettes made up larger shares of the Nova Scotia CPI basket for 2025 compared to the national average.

For 2025, the expenditure weights are derived from Household Final Consumption Expenditures, the Survey of Household Spending and alternative sources to account for shifts in spending. Updating the basket is needed as expenditure patterns shift in response to prices, income levels, demographics, habits and new technology/products.

Each good or service in the basket is assigned a basket share proportional to consumption expenditure for which they account. The CPI classification of goods and services is organized according to a top-down hierarchical structure from the eight major components, 220 basic aggregates and 491 elementary aggregates, most of which are unpublished. These elementary aggregates are added or deleted as consumption pattern changes. At the elementary aggregate level, the classification includes sample of items that characterize all products in the class. Representative products are chosen for items that are widely available and known to be among the most popular with consumers.

Sources:

Statistics Canada. An Analysis of the 2026 Consumer Price Index Basket Update, Based on 2025 Expenditures

Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0007-01  Basket weights of the Consumer Price Index, Canada, provinces, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit

Year-over-year (May 2026 vs May 2025)

The inflation rate increased to 3.3% in the European Union and to 3.2% in the Euro Area in May 2026.

The fastest inflation was reported in Romania, while the slowest inflation rate was in Sweden.                                                                 

Note that from 1 January 2026, the Euro Area also includes Bulgaria.

Energy price inflation was 10.7% in the European Union and 10.8% in the Euro Area in May 2026.

Food price inflation was 1.4% for the European Union and 1.5% in the Euro Area in May 2026.

Excluding the impacts of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices year-over-year inflation was 2.7% in the European Union and 2.6% in the Euro Area in May 2026.

Note: annual data shown for the 27 countries that currently make up the European Union and for the 21 countries that currently use the Euro as their currency.

Source: Eurostat; Eurostat Data

The United States Consumer Price Index (not seasonally adjusted) for All Urban Consumers increased 4.2% year-over-year in May 2026, up from the 3.8% year-over-year pace in April 2026.

Compared to May 2025, the US energy price index was up 23.5%. The gasoline price index was up 40.5%. The food index rose 3.1% and the shelter index was up 3.4% year-over-year.

The US CPI excluding food and energy rose 2.9% compared to May 2025. 

Please note that October 2025 inflation was not published due to the US government shut down.

CPI figures for Canada and Nova Scotia will be released on June 22, 2026.

Sources: Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0004-01  Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted; U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics retrieved from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Year-over-year (April 2026 vs April 2025)

Over the last year (April 2026 vs April 2025), the consumer price index for all items in Nova Scotia excluding food increased by 4.6%. Food prices as a whole rose 3.0%.  At the same time average weekly earnings across all Nova Scotia industries increased by 3.1%.

In the last year, the following products reported lower prices in Nova Scotia: beef (top sirloin, rib), pork shoulder cuts, chicken (breasts, thigh, drumsticks), bacon, canned tuna, eggs, oranges, pears, limes, avocado, sweet potatoes, peppers, salad greens, frozen french fries, frozen mixed vegetables, frozen spinach, flatbread/pita, crackers, white rice, orange juice, ketchup, olive oil, peanut butter, mayonnaise, canned tomatoes, canned soup, canned beans/lentils, canned peaches and sunflower seeds.

The following products reported price growth that exceeded the gains in average weekly earnings: beef (striploin, ground), pork (loin, rib), whole chicken, shrimp, canned salmon, meatless burgers, milk (1 litre), soy milk, nut milk, cream, butter, bananas, lemons, grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, celery, lettuce (iceberg, romaine), broccoli, squash, frozen green beans, frozen broccoli, frozen corn, frozen peas, frozen strawberries, white bread, cookies, pasta, wheat flour, white sugar, apple juice, coffee, vegetable oil, canola oil, infant formula, canned baked beans, canned corn, dried lentils, dry beans, tofu, hummus, salsa, pasta sauce, salad dressing, almonds, peanuts and deodorant .

Nova Scotia prices relative to national average (April 2026)

Nova Scotia food prices were below national averages for the following products: beef (top sirloin, rib), pork shoulder cuts, chicken thigh, bacon, salmon, shrimp, canned salmon, milk (2 litres), cheese, carrots, romaine lettuce, frozen green beans, frozen corn, frozen mixed vegetables, frozen peas, frozen spinach, frozen strawberries, peanut butter, mayonnaise, canned tomatoes, canned beans/lentils, pasta sauce, sunflower seeds, deodorant and shampoo.

Nova Scotia food prices were more than 10% higher than the national averages for the following products: pork (loin, rib), whole chicken, chicken drumsticks, cream, eggs, apples, oranges, bananas, pears, lemons, limes, grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries, onions, cucumber, mushrooms, iceberg lettuce, broccoli, peppers, squash, flatbread and pita, white rice, vegetable oil, canola oil, dried lentils and salad dressing .

Notes: Statistics Canada makes available scanner data on prices collected for a range of food and personal care items. These prices are collected through point-of-sale (transaction) data obtained directly from Canadian retailers. The data represent commonly purchased items (which do change over time), but are not representative of the Consumer Price Index weights. Over time, products are rotated and quantity or quality may change. Comparisons of prices from one time period to another reflect quantity and quality changes as well as price changes.

For the purposes of this analysis, the 110 items reported by Statistics Canada will be grouped into:

• Meat, fish, poultry and meat substitutes
• Dairy, eggs and substitute products
• Fruit (including canned and frozen products)
• Vegetables (including canned and frozen products)
• Grains, cereals, beans, legumes and nuts
• Sugar, juices, cooking oils, condiments and prepared foods
• Health and cleaning products

Source: Statistics Canada. Table 18-10-0245-01  Monthly average retail prices for selected products; Table 18-10-0004-01  Consumer Price Index, monthly, not seasonally adjusted; Table 14-10-0063-01  Employee wages by industry, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality