Consumer prices declined for a second consecutive month in November as the price of gasoline continued to decrease, Statistics Canada said today.

The all-items Consumer Price Index fell 0.2% in November, after it declined 0.5% in October. The annual inflation rate slipped to 2% from 2.6% in October.

Prices at the gas pump were still up by 9.4% in November, compared with one year earlier, the government agency noted.

But that’s a more moderate increase in gasoline prices than the 17% annual jump reported in October. And on a month-over-month comparison, gasoline prices fell 11.2% from October.

Despite the slower rise in price pressures, analysts said the Bank of Canada will likely continue to boost interest rates to keep inflation from catching fire.

The core annual inflation rate – which excludes both food and energy — slipped a bit last month to 1.6%, from 1.7% in October, resting at the low end of the Bank of Canada’s target range of 1% to 3%.

“On balance, there is nothing here to divert the bank from its gradual tightening course,” Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said in a note to clients.

The Canadian dollar, which had been expecting slower inflation, opened Tuesday at US85.43¢, down 0.09 of a cent from Monday’s close.

Other items that pushed up inflation last month included natural gas – which nationally jumped by 18.7% last month, compared with one year earlier – as well as the cost of buying or leasing cars and trucks and restaurant meals.

Those higher costs were partly offset by less expensive computer gear, as well as cheaper fresh vegetables.