The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that economists believe that Canadian inflation likely increased again in March, but not by a enough to impact the Bank of Canada's plans. The Post's Denise Paglinawan writes that inflation rose to 3 per cent last month, after a surprise drop to 2.8 per cent year-over-year in February. Last week, the United States reported that inflation also increased in March. Royal Bank of Canada economists wrote, "The Bank of Canada will be focused on the March Canadian consumer price index report next Tuesday after another upward surprise in U.S. price growth created doubt about the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate-cutting plans this year." RBC's Nathan Janzen and Abbey Xu expect year-over-year price growth to hit 3 per cent, largely due to higher gasoline prices pushing energy costs further above year-ago levels. While slower price growth in recent months would have made BOC policy-makers confident that inflation will continue to slow, the bank wants to see more evidence before shifting to interest rate cuts, the economists said. CIBC economist Andrew Grantham says, "After decelerating by more than expected so far this year, inflation likely picked up again slightly in March."