On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada kept its key rate at 5% per annum, which is the highest since 2001. This decision was expected for the financial market. Against the background of noticeable signs of a decline in economic activity and increased price pressure after previous tough monetary policy measures, the regulator decided to keep the rate at the same level. In a statement, the Central Bank said: «Economic indicators indicate that supply and demand are almost balanced.» Nevertheless, the Bank of Canada expressed concerns about the slow decline in inflation to the target level of 2% and did not rule out the possibility of further rate hikes if necessary. All future decisions in the field of monetary policy will depend on current economic indicators, the Central Bank said. The Bank of Canada also adjusted its forecast for the country's GDP growth: from 1.8% to 1.2% this year, predicting a further slowdown to 0.9% in 2024. Since March 2022, the rate has been increased 10 times, increasing by a total of 4.75 percentage points. Of these, the last two increases amounted to 0.25 percentage points at each of the meetings in June and July.
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