Q&A from Bank of Canada Press conference:Interest rate decisions are one meeting at a time

The USDCAD is tradin at 1.3711 at the start of the USDCAD

BOC Macklem:

  • Interest rate decisions one meeting at a time. If the economy continues as expected and easing of inflation, you can expect more cuts
  • Determined to get inflation back to 2% target
  • The work is not done. See how things evolve.
  • Will make decisions one meeting at a time depending on data
  • We have come a long way with fight on inflation
  • Economy has evolved broadly as we expected. That has increased our confidence that inflation will move gradually back toward a 2% target
  • The timing of any further cuts is dependent on incoming data.
  • We know there can be bumps along the way. There are risks.
  • Our own forecasts has inflation moving gradually back toward our 2% target.
  • There are limits to how far we can divert from us, and we are not close to those limits
  • We are expecting population growth to slow. We have built in our forecasts. Population growth has eased employment pressures, but it also increase demand for housing.
  • So far it is looking like a soft landing for the economy
  • There is room for economy to grow faster than potential for a period..
  • We are normalizing our balance sheet, but our policy is still restrictive.
  • We need restrictive policy as inflation is still above target.
  • We will get to a point where balance sheet is normalized

BOC Carolyn Rogers:

  • It is clear there is some pent-up demand in the housing market. We’ll see how that goes.
  • We always look on how decisions will impact Canadians and housing is an important part.
  • The BOC is diverging from other countries because each economy is working at a bit differently

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com. Source