For weeks, at least, the financial world has been waiting for what has seemed inevitable…that record-low interest rates are going to start going up.
Last week, a Financial Post story intimated that it could come as early as January 26, the date the Bank of Canada will next announce its decision.
The Post story read:
Calls are coming from all sides for both the Bank of Canada and U.S. Federal Reserve to deal with decades-high inflation. This week the head of Canada’s biggest commercial bank joined the chorus.
“This is permanent, sustained inflation that has to be dealt with through monetary policy, and therefore we need rapid action this spring as a series of rate increases to address it,” said RBC chief executive David McKay.
The U.S. recently announced plans to raise interest rates three times in 2022, with the first increase expected in March. If the Bank of Canada keeps the current bank rate at 0.5 per cent next week, it will stay that way until the March 2 announcement.