Statistics Canada says the country’s annual inflation rating in July jumped to its highest reading since September 2011.

The federal agency says higher gasoline prices helped push the rate to 3 per cent on a year-over-year basis compared with a 2.5 per cent increase in June.

Gasoline prices were up 25 per cent, while the cost of air transportation was up 28.2 per cent compared with a year ago.

Food purchased from restaurants also gained 4.4 per cent, while mortgage interest costs rose 5.2 per cent.

According to Thomson Reuters Eikon, economists had expected a year-over-year inflation rate of 2.5 per cent.

The result put inflation at the upper end of the Bank of Canada’s target range of one to three per cent.