BoC deliberations show debate over when to cut, experts say
BNN Bloomberg
A pair of economists say the Bank of Canada’s latest summary of deliberations shows the bank is struggling to strike the right balance on when to begin cutting interest rates.
On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada released its summary of deliberations for its Jan. 24 rate decision, which shows members of the bank agreed that the focus will now shift on how much longer rates will stay at five per cent. However, the summary said it remains “difficult to foresee” the appropriate time to begin cutting.
Randall Bartlett, senior director of Canadian economics at Desjardins, said the struggle to predict when rate cuts will come is the part of the deliberations that stuck out most.
“It (the Bank of Canada) sees risks on both sides of its inflation outlook where we're seeing that underlying inflation is still remaining elevated and there's a risk that it could remain sticky going forward. That would mean potentially that rates would need to stay high for longer,” he told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview Wednesday.
