Bank of Canada holds key interest rate steady
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 6, 2007 | 9:21 AM ET
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/03/06/interestrates.html
The Bank of Canada held its benchmark overnight lending rate steady at 4.25 per cent Tuesday, surprising no one.
Every economist polled by news agencies had said the central bank would make no move to change its key rate, which hasn't budged since May 24 last year, when it boosted it by a quarter of a percentage point.
The Bank of Canada said the sell-off that has shaken world financial markets in the last week has not changed its underlying view that the Canadian and global economies are "evolving broadly in line with the bank's expectations" as they were laid out in January, when it last updated its monetary policy report.
"Despite recent volatility in global financial markets, the bank continues to judge that the risks to its inflation projection are roughly balanced," it said in a statement accompanying the rate announcement. "The main downside risk continues to be that growth in the U.S. economy could be lower than expected."
The central bank continues to say the Canadian economy is operating at, or just above, its production capacity.
The next scheduled Bank of Canada rate policy announcement comes on April 24. The next monetary policy report follows two days later.
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Last Updated: Tuesday, March 6, 2007 | 9:21 AM ET
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/03/06/interestrates.html
The Bank of Canada held its benchmark overnight lending rate steady at 4.25 per cent Tuesday, surprising no one.
Every economist polled by news agencies had said the central bank would make no move to change its key rate, which hasn't budged since May 24 last year, when it boosted it by a quarter of a percentage point.
The Bank of Canada said the sell-off that has shaken world financial markets in the last week has not changed its underlying view that the Canadian and global economies are "evolving broadly in line with the bank's expectations" as they were laid out in January, when it last updated its monetary policy report.
"Despite recent volatility in global financial markets, the bank continues to judge that the risks to its inflation projection are roughly balanced," it said in a statement accompanying the rate announcement. "The main downside risk continues to be that growth in the U.S. economy could be lower than expected."
The central bank continues to say the Canadian economy is operating at, or just above, its production capacity.
The next scheduled Bank of Canada rate policy announcement comes on April 24. The next monetary policy report follows two days later.
Continue Article
