CA BOC Press Conference

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Good morning. I’m pleased to be here with Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers to discuss the October Monetary Policy Report and our policy decision. Today, we lowered the policy interest rate by 50 basis points. This is our fourth consecutive decrease since June and brings our policy rate to 3.75%. We took a bigger step today because inflation is now back to the 2% target and we want to keep it close to the target. In the past few months, inflation has come down significantly from 2.7% in June to 1.6% in September. Recent indicators suggest it will be around 2% in October. Price pressures are no longer broad-based, and both our measures of core inflation are now under 2½%. Our surveys also find that business and consumer expectations of inflation have shifted down and are nearing normal. All this suggests we are back to low inflation. This is good news for Canadians. Now our focus is to maintain low, stable inflation. We need to stick the landing. That means the upward and downward forces on inflation need to balance out. Household spending and business investment have picked up this year, but remain soft. This softness has helped take the remaining steam out of inflation. But with inflation back to 2%, we want to see growth strengthen. Today’s interest rate decision should contribute to a pickup in demand. post: BOC'S GOV. MACKLEM: WE FOCUSED ON INFLATION WHEN CONSIDERING THIS CUT, CORE INFLATION IS EASING AS EXPECTED. post: BOC'S GOV. MACKLEM: SHELTER PRICE INFLATION HAS STARTED TO COME OFF, INCREASING OUR CONFIDENCE THAT IT WILL GRADUALLY CONTINUE TO EASE. post: <CAD=>:*BOC's Macklem: Focus is Keeping CPI Close to 2% Target *BOC's Macklem: We Need Growth to Strengthen to Absorb Spare Capacity *BOC's Macklem: Clear Consensus For 50 Basis-Point Cut post: *BOC's Macklem: 'It's Been a Long Fight Against Inflation But It Has Worked' *BOC's Macklem: Not Going to Handicap Next Move, But 'Been Clear' on Direction

post: BOC'S GOV. MACKLEM: THERE WAS STRONG CONSENSUS FOR A 25 BASIS POINTS CUT. post: BOC'S MACKLEM: WE DID DISCUSS DIFFERENT SCENARIOS, INCLUDING SLOWING THE PACE OF CUTS AND ALSO A 50 BPS CUT post: BOC'S MACKLEM: NOT SEEING BIG IMPACT ON EXCHANGE RATE FROM DIVERGENCE WITH U.S. FED ON RATES post: BOC'S GOV. MACKLEM: WE NEED TO SEE CANADIAN GROWTH ABOVE 2%, AND THE NEED FOR MORE GROWTH FACTORED INTO OUR POLICY DECISION.

Good morning. I’m pleased to be here with Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers to discuss today’s policy announcement. Today, we lowered the policy interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.25%. This is the third consecutive decrease since June. Our decision reflects two main considerations. First, headline and core inflation have continued to ease as expected. Second, as inflation gets closer to target, we want to see economic growth pick up to absorb the slack in the economy so inflation returns sustainably to the 2% target. ...

post: BOC'S GOV. MACKLEM: THERE WAS A CLEAR CONSENSUS TO CUT POLICY RATE BY 25 BPS. post: BOC'S GOV. MACKLEM: MONETARY POLICY IS STILL RESTRICTIVE. post: BOC MACKLEM REPEATS TO REPORTERS: IF INFLATION CONTINUES TO EASE BROADLY IN LINE WITH OUR FORECAST, IT IS REASONABLE TO EXPECT FURTHER CUTS IN OUR POLICY RATE #Canadaecon post: BoC’s Macklem: Divergence From Fed Not Likely To Be ‘Serious’