The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, Oct. 9, edition that an ex-member of the Bank of Canada's governing body said officials should cut borrowing costs by half a percentage point later this month.
A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that there are "good reasons" to move interest rates "back to as close to neutral as quickly as possible," former deputy governor Paul Beaudry said, including boosting household and business optimism.
Now that policy-makers are more sure that wage growth, expectations and corporate pricing are going in the right direction, Mr. Beaudry sees borrowing costs moving lower faster as the bank eyes a sustainable return to 2 per cent inflation.
"The preconditions were there to kind of start moving down; you want to move that down quickly," Mr. Beaudry said on the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce podcast Curve Your Enthusiasm that aired Monday.
"I would really bet on 50 basis points," he said, referring to the bank's Oct. 23 meeting. Giving some monetary stimulus back amid the slowness in Canada's economy would also help in "getting that message across" to consumers and firms.
He said, "When you want to turn things around, you want to get the confidence going."
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