National Bank Says CPI-Trim, CPI-Median Back in The Spotlight in Canada

11:01 AM EST, 01/29/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Wednesday was policy rate decision day in Canada with the central bank meeting, said National Bank of Canada.

The Bank of Canada decision to hold was announced alongside a fresh Monetary Policy Report (MPR), offering an updated assessment of economic conditions, including inflation.

In recent years, the bank noted it has criticized the BoC's treatment of underlying inflation. National Bank argued that it appeared to selectively reference various core measures to support its policy decisions rather than relying consistently on its official indicators, for example. CPI-trim and CPI-median.

Since last summer, the BoC has expressed doubts about the reliability of its preferred measures by introducing other indicators as well as emphasizing the consumer price index excluding food & energy and CPIX in the last two MPRs.

Wednesday's communications represented a departure from that approach, as both the press release and the MPR focused exclusively on the BoC's preferred core measures. This didn't give the impression of "cherry-picking," as the two measures that were discarded had average annual rates similar to the preferred, both at 2.6% year over year, added the bank.

The BoC is currently reviewing its core inflation measures and National Bank continues to believe that it should pick an exclusion measure for both simplicity and flexibility. But in the meantime, the bank welcomes this return to a more coherent and transparent approach. Due to these developments, National Bank will be paying closer attention to the CPI-trim and CPI-median for the next inflation releases.

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