OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada will provide a window into its thinking on the economy as it makes an announcement about its trendsetting rate.
The key policy rate has been at 0.25 per cent almost exactly one year after the central bank cut rates three times last March at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing it to the lowest it can go.
Governor Tiff Macklem has said the rate won’t move from the lower effective bound until an economic recovery is well underway, which the bank doesn’t expect to happen until 2023.
That has taken much of the drama out of today’s announcement.
Instead, experts will be looking closely at the wording the bank’s senior decision-makers put into the statement announcing the decision for clues on the bank’s outlook for the rate and its quantitative easing program.
The central bank is scheduled to release its updated economic outlook late next month as part of its quarterly monetary policy report.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2021.
