BoC 'late' to cut rates, private sector 'starting to buckle': chief market strategist
BNN Bloomberg
A chief market strategist says the Bank of Canada is late in bringing interest rates lower and says policy is driving inflation above the two per cent target.
On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada held its key policy rate for the fifth consecutive meeting at five per cent. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem also added in a speech that it is “too early to consider lowering the policy rate.”
Jim Thorne, the chief market strategist at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth, said in an interview with BNN Bloomberg on Wednesday that policy is now driving inflationary pressures. Specifically, he mentioned carbon taxes, the impact of Ottawa’s immigration policy on rental prices and mortgage interest costs rising by a record 28.5 per cent in 2023.
“All of those are policy-induced inflation. We learn in advance macroeconomics, what you're supposed to do is take that out and ignore it. And if you do, we're in deflation in Canada,” Thorne said.
