“Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz says he has not ruled out a future cut to interest rates despite his belief that the global and Canadian recoveries are picking up steam and that disinflationary pressures appear to be waning. The head of Canada’s central bank made the comment after it decided to keep the trendsetting overnight rate at 1% for the 29th time in a row since September 2010. The bank also pared back its estimate for first-quarter economic growth by a full point to 1.5% — mostly because of the severe winter weather that began in December — and 2014 growth to 2.3% from 2.5. But in its overall assessment, the Bank of Canada’s new monetary policy report appeared to reflect a growing confidence in the global economic recovery and less concern about persistent low inflation and an overly hot housing sector.” Julian Beltrame of the Canadian Press wrote for the Financial Post. Beltrame continued, “still, Poloz said in a teleconference from Toronto — where he was to attend former finance minister Jim Flaherty’s funeral in the afternoon — that considerable risks remain, including the possibility that Canadian exports won’t recover fully and the potential for a political shock from Ukraine’s difficulties with Russia. ‘We are neutral, that means a rate cut cannot be taken off the table at this stage,’ Poloz said. ‘It will depend on the data.’ The central bank has set an ideal target of annual inflation at 2.0% but considers it acceptable within a range of between 1.0% and 3.0%.” Read the full article here. | Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS
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