Reuters
Bank of Canada hikes rates, becomes first major central bank to signal pause
OTTAWA (Reuters) -The Bank of Canada on Wednesday hiked its key interest rate to 4.5%, the highest level in 15 years, and became the first major central bank fighting global inflation to say it would likely hold off on further increases for now. The bank has raised rates at a record pace of 425 basis points in 10 months to tame inflation, which peaked at 8.1% and slowed to 6.3% in December, still more than three times the bank’s 2% target. The members of the Governing Council „clearly have enough confidence that the tightening currently in place is already slowing the economy that they are comfortable they won’t need to lift rates further in most scenarios,” said Andrew Kelvin, chief Canada strategist at TD Securities.