What do November’s inflation numbers mean for the Bank of Canada?

Canada’s inflation rate held steady in November despite expectations it would fall, and a veteran economist says the print reinforces the Bank of Canada’s cautious tone around interest rate cuts.

Craig Alexander, president of Alexander Economic Views and former chief economist at TD Bank, called the latest inflation reading “a bit of a disappointment,” that may keep the Bank of Canada on the sidelines for longer.

While U.S. central bankers have recently signalled that cuts could be coming in the first half of next year, Alexander noted that Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem has been “more cautionary.”

“The inflation numbers in a sense back up that cautionary point,” he told BNN Bloomberg in a Tuesday television interview.