07:49 AM EDT, 07/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Bank of Montreal (BMO) noted that a recent question it fielded: "Did any of the great pandemic inflation ever get unwound?"

The short answer is no, said the bank. With June in the bag, United States consumer prices are now up almost exactly 25% in the past five years -- an annualized increase of 4.6% -- compared with a rise of just 8% in the prior five years, or just under 1.6% per year.

It's a broadly similar story for Canada, although "milder," stated BMO. Since mid-2020, prices are up nearly 20%, or 3.7% annualized, compared with just under 8% the previous five years -- rounds to 1.5% a.r.. While inflation has cooled back to almost normal, the big price jump never got unwound.

Having said that, there were a few items that saw some reversal from the pandemic surge -- used cars, airfares, gasoline, added the bank. However, those were the outliers.