BoC HIKES KEY INTEREST RATE 0.5% FOR SECOND STRAIGHT MONTH
Jun 01, 2022
By Bob Komsic
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As expected the Bank of Canada is raising its benchmark interest rate by half-a-percentage point for the second month in a row — to 1.5%.
The central bank is also warning rates will need to go up even higher in order to fight rising consumer prices.
Inflation hit 6.8% in April – more than twice the bank’s target of 2% – but the bank does not think things have peaked that inflation ”will likely move even higher in the near term before beginning to ease.”
The latest hike brings the Bank of Canada’s rate within one-quarter of a point of the 1.75% level it was at before COVID-19, and the bank warns of more hikes to come.
”With … inflation persisting well above target and expected to move higher in the near term, the [bank] continues to judge that interest rates will need to rise further,” a statement reads.