The Bank of Canada are expected to raise interest rates on Wednesday at 4pm GMT. This will be the first interest movement in Canada since the two rate cuts that came in 2015. The hike will provide a huge confidence boost for the Canadian’s future and arguably after one hike, the second may not be too far around the corner.
Stephen Poloz who is the Governor of the Bank of Canada started the market speculation last week when he announced that low interest rates had served their purpose. This immediately raised expectations that the interest rate hike may be imminent. It is common place for central banks to leak information so that decisions don’t come as a shock.
The Canadian economy has started to pick up with inflation levels slowly increasing and growth starting to appear in different sectors. The imports and export figures for May were at record highs. One of the main factors for the increase is also the price of a barrel of oil. This time last year Canada’s biggest export dropped to a multi-decade low which had a major impact on the performance of the Canadian economy. Now that the price of oil has once again picked up Canada has started to see more profits.
There is always a chance that there won’t be a rate hike however if that was to be the case then I think it would be set up for a few months’ time. Stephen Poloz will speak after the announcement on Wednesday and will supply an insight into any future decisions the Bank of Canada might make.