Bank of Canada debated waiting until July to hike rates, but says data prompted it to act sooner

The Bank of Canada's governing council considered waiting until July to raise interest rates, but ultimately decided to act sooner in the face of hot economic data.

The central bank released Wednesday its summary of deliberations for its June interest rate announcement, shedding light into the decision to raise its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.75 per cent. 

That’s the highest it’s been since 2001. 

The rate hike came after the central bank declared a pause earlier in the year, appearing cautiously optimistic that interest rates were high enough to quash inflation.