BoC’s Macklem: More rate hikes will be needed

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said on Thursday that further rate hikes will be needed since there is more work to be done on inflation.

The USD/CAD pair’s performance ignored these comments and was last seen rising 0.8% on the day at 1.3725 and is trading at the time of writing at 1.3710.

Key Quotes

“We have yet to see clear evidence that underlying inflation in Canada has come down; domestic inflationary pressures have yet to ease.”

“Even after stripping out CPI components that are volatile or don’t reflect generalized price changes, inflation is running at about 5%; that’s too high.”

Forward-looking indicators suggest the Canadian economy is slowing but labor markets remain tight and the economy is in excess demand.”

“Recent decline in overall Canadian inflation is welcome news but inflation will not fade away by itself; price pressures remain high and continue to broaden.”

“Inflation increasingly reflects what we are seeing in Canada; there is some evidence global inflationary pressures have begun to ease.”

“Surveys show consumers and businesses are more uncertain about inflation and more of them expect it to be higher for longer.”

“So far, longer-term inflation expectations remain reasonably well-anchored but Canadians will need to see inflation clearly coming down to sustain this confidence.”

“We can’t count on easing global price pressures to lower inflation in Canada.”

“Recent depreciation of C$ vs USD will offset some of the global improvement in inflation trends by making US goods and vacations more expensive.”

“Bank will focus more on CPI trim and CPI median measures of inflation; the bank is reassessing CPI common measure, which is becoming more difficult to use.”

“We need additional information before we consider moving to a more finely balanced decision-by-decision approach.”