Canada’s annual pace of inflation ticked higher in December, but the increase was smaller than expected as lower food prices helped offset gasoline price increases at the pump.

Statistics Canada said Friday the consumer price index in December was up 1.5% from where it was a year ago, a higher rate of inflation compared with November’s increase of 1.2%.

Prices were up for seven of the eight major categories compared with a year earlier, with food being the one exception.

Economists had expected a bigger increase of 1.7% year-over-year in December.

“An ongoing collapse in food prices continues to weigh heavily on overall inflation, with prices dipping again last month,” Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter wrote in a note to clients.

“On the flip side, gasoline prices are rising quickly.”

The transportation index was up 3.0% in December compared with a year ago as gasoline prices climbed 5.5% compared with a year ago. The shelter index rose 2.1%.

In contrast, Statistics Canada says the price of food fell on a year-over-year basis for the third consecutive month. Prices for food in December fell 1.3% compared with a year ago.

The pace of inflation increased in six provinces in December compared with November, while inflation in two provinces was unchanged and it fell in two other provinces.

Statistics Canada also released the three new measures of core inflation that the Bank of Canada has started to use to examine the underlying pace of inflation.

CPI-common for December was 1.4%, while CPI-median stood at 2.0% and CPI-trim 1.6%.

For the full year, the average annual increase in the consumer price index was 1.4% in 2016. That compared with 1.1% in 2015 and 2.0% in 2014.

Excluding gasoline, the annual average rise in the consumer price index was 1.8% in 2016, following a 2.0% increase in 2015.

In addition to the inflation report, Statistics Canada reported Friday that retail sales climbed 0.2% in November to $45.2 billion.

Economists had expected a bigger increase of 0.5%, according to Thomson Reuters.

Sales were up in five of 11 subsectors with the overall increase due in large part to higher sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers and building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers.

Retail sales in volume terms increased 0.7%.