The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that Canada's annual rate of inflation in August may have remained at 3 per cent, but some economists say the odds of a December rate hike by the Bank of Canada have increased due to surging global oil prices. The Post's Gigi Suhanic writes that Desjardins's Royce Mendes says, "While inflationary pressures looked relatively contained in August, [BOC] officials won't take much comfort with oil prices above $100 (U.S.) per barrel." He says moderating gas prices "temporarily" contained inflation in August at 3 per cent, matching economists' expectations. Excluding gas and food, the consumer price index rose to 2.1 per cent in August from 1.9 per cent in July. The BOC's preferred measures of core inflation, CPI trim and median, came in at a 12-month rate of 2 per cent. Cooler core inflation will give the BOC some breathing space that others such as the European Central Bank, which hiked rates by 25 basis points last week after increasing them in June, don't have. But Mr. Mendes says if oil prices don't fall soon, policy-makers won't have any choice but to hike because rising oil and gasoline prices will show up in other areas of the economy over the next few months.