Ottawa/CMEDIA: Benchmark interest rate has been raised by the Bank of Canada by 25 basis points to 4.5 percent.
It is expected that the bank’s governing council would reportedly hold the policy rate at its current level while it assesses the impact of the cumulative interest rate increases.
Since March 2022 the bank conducted eight consecutive interest rate hikes and added 425 basis points in total to tackle inflation.
There was a decline in the country’s inflation from 8.1 percent in June to 6.3 percent in December, reflecting lower petrol prices and, more recently, moderating prices for durable goods, the Bank of Canada said.
The Bank added that despite this progress, with persistent price increases for food and shelter, Canadians are still feeling the hardship of high inflation in their essential household expenses.
The Bank also said that short-term inflation would remain elevated.
Although year-over-year measures of core inflation are still around 5 percent, core inflation measures of three months measures have come down, causing core inflation to have peaked.
Inflation is projected to come down significantly this year.
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