Bank of Canada expected to hike key rate for 1st time since 2023

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada is widely expected to move its benchmark interest rate this morning for the first time in nearly a year.

Financial markets and a Reuters poll of economists are betting that the central bank will deliver a quarter-point hike to its policy rate, the first increase in the key lending rate since July 2023.

The bank’s policy rate has stood at 2.25 per cent for nearly a year now, a level most economists see as giving the economy a bit of a boost.

But even as a tariff dispute with the United States threatens economic growth, the Bank of Canada has signalled it’s increasingly worried about inflation stemming from war in the Middle East.