Bank of Canada expected to hike rates again. Here's a timeline of how we got here

The Bank of Canada is expected to hike its key interest rate by another quarter-percentage point on Wednesday, bringing it to 4.5 per cent and continuing one of the fastest monetary policy tightening cycles in its history amid warning signs of a potential recession.

Here's how we got here:

Oct. 24, 2018: The Bank of Canada's key interest rate reached 1.75 per cent after gradually increasing since the 2015 oil price crash that rippled through the Canadian economy. That rate remained unchanged throughout 2019.

March 4, 2020: The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 1.25 per cent amid economic concerns stemming from COVID-19, just days before the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.