The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Canada's inflation rate fell below 2 per cent in September for the first time in over three years, a surprisingly weak result that could prompt the Bank of Canada to implement a larger interest-rate cut next week to prevent inflation from dropping too much. The Globe's Matt Lundy writes that the Consumer Price Index increased at an annual rate of 1.6 per cent in September, down from a 2-per-cent pace in August, as reported by Statistics Canada on Tuesday. Financial analysts had anticipated a slowdown to 1.8 per cent. On a monthly basis, consumer prices decreased by 0.4 per cent. This marked the lowest inflation rate since February, 2021. The weak results on Tuesday were largely influenced by gasoline prices, which dropped by 7.1 per cent in September compared with August. Excluding gas, the CPI increased by an annual rate of 2.2 per cent, matching the rise in August. To combat inflation, which peaked at about 8 per cent in mid-2022, the BOC raised interest rates 10 times between 2022 and 2023. Now that inflation has eased, the BOC has implemented three consecutive rate cuts since June, bringing its policy rate down to 4.25 per cent from 5 per cent.