Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem spoke in an interview with Bloomberg on his policy outlook in 2024, suggesting the Bank's rates are likely to be cut, but was vague on potential timings:
- “(If) you look at our projection, it's some time next year, but I'm not going to put it on a calendar.”
Market analysts are tipping cuts from the Bank in Q2 and/or Q3 of 2024.
Adding:
- “We're very focused on core inflation,”
- the BoC need to see “a number of months with sustained downward momentum in core inflation” before it cuts interest rates.
- “We are certainly feeling more confident that monetary policy is working and increasingly, the conditions are in place to get us back to two-per-cent inflation, but that is not yet assured, we're not there yet,”
- “There are a few more things we need to see to be more confident that we're headed back to two per cent and we're watching those closely.”
The Bank of Canada held its benchmark rate unchanged at 5% in its previous 3 meetings.
