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Bank of Canada cuts rates, indicates bigger cut possible
Al Jazeera
Wednesday marked the third consecutive cut, with the central bank citing continued easing in broad inflationary pressures.
The Bank of Canada (BoC) has trimmed its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 4.25 percent as forecast and Governor Tiff Macklem, citing weak growth, said a larger cut could be in order if the economy needs a boost.
The bank had held its benchmark rate at a two-decade high of 5 percent for a year until June when it started the easing cycle.
Wednesday marked the third consecutive cut, with the bank citing continued easing in broad inflationary pressures.
Overall inflation fell to a 40-month low of 2.5 percent in July, still above the BoC’s target of 2 percent. But the economy now looks to be weaker than the bank had forecast just six weeks ago.
“With inflation getting closer to the target, we need to increasingly guard against the risk that the economy is too weak and inflation falls too much,” Macklem said.