The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Sept. 19, edition that the Bank of Canada, in an effort to control price growth, has been working to slow down the Canadian economy in recent years. The Globe's Mark Rendell writes that policy-makers, however, now aim to boost economic growth to prevent inflation from falling below their target. This shift in approach was revealed in a summary of discussions leading up to the BOC's decision to reduce its benchmark interest rate to 4.25 per cent on Sept. 4, marking the third rate cut since June. The summary said, "Governing council members agreed they would like to see the economy grow at a rate above potential output to begin taking up slack in the economy so that inflation does not fall too much and instead settles close to the 2-per-cent target." This view, which puts more emphasis on downside risks to economic growth and inflation, could have implications for the pace of interest-rate cuts. Financial markets now put the odds of an oversized half-point cut on Oct. 23 at about 50 per cent. Those bets were strengthened on Tuesday, when Statistics Canada reported annual Consumer Price Index growth hit the BOC's 2-per-cent target in August for the first time since early 2021.
© 2024 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.