Source: Erica Alini, Global News, July 11, 2018
Bank of Canada raises interest rates amid trade tensions
As widely anticipated by economists, the Bank of Canada (BoC) raised its trendsetting policy rate to 1.5 per cent, up from 1.25 per cent on Wednesday. It was the fourth rate increase in the last 12 months.
The central bank said it expects the Canadian economy to expand by 2 per cent per year on average between 2018 and 2020, noting that recently implemented tariffs on steel and aluminium will likely have only “modest” effects on growth and inflation.
Consumer price inflation is expected to edge up to 2.5 per cent before returning to around 2 per cent by the second half of 2019.
