Bank of Canada keeps interest rates on hold as expected

The Bank of Canada kept its key overnight interest rate unchanged at 5%, in line with expectations.

Policymakers stressed that elevated underlying inflation continues to keep on hold expectations for the start of policy easing and pushed bets for the first rate cut in June, which many economists expected before today’s policy meeting, to July’s central bank’s meeting

The BoC interest rate currently stands at the highest in over two decades after being raised by 475 basis points during the campaign of sharp policy tightening during March 2022 – July 2023 period and the central bank has kept rates on hold since then in attempts to cool inflation, with increased risk that high borrowing cost would push the economy into recession.

BoC Governor Macklem said that it is still too early to consider lowering policy rate, with more evidence needed to ensure inflation fell towards the central bank’s 2% target.

He also stressed that the path towards 2% target will be slow and progress likely to be uneven, expecting that inflation will stabilize around 3% level in mid-2024 that would open way for rate cuts in the second half of the year.