The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that Canada's annual inflation rate remained steady at 3 per cent in August as gasoline and grocery prices rose at a slower pace. Postmedia's Paula Tran writes that gas prices rose by 22.8 per cent year-over-year in August following a 25.7-per-cent increase in July, according to Statistics Canada. Statcan said Canada's inflation rate would have been 2.4 per cent in August and 2.2 per cent in July if this category were excluded. The slowdown in gas prices was offset by higher prices for travel tours and rent, which rose 26.1 per cent and 2.8 per cent annually, respectively. Despite elevated inflation, core inflation measures remained stable in August. CPI-median was flat at 2 per cent in August and July, while CPI-trim held steady at 1.9 per cent. "The inflation rate is still running above the two per cent target because of higher energy prices, but underneath that, the August report was quite reassuring," said Abbey Xu, an economist at RBC Economics. "Core measures still remain at around the two per cent target and the diffusion index, which measures the breadth of inflation, remains narrowed. We see limited evidence of a meaningful spillover from higher energy costs."