Bank of Canada raises interest rates for first time in 4 years

The Bank of Canada announced the first interest rate cuts in four years. It comes after the bank started an aggressive policy tightening process in March 2022 that saw it add 475 basis points to interest rates to 5%. 

With today’s decision, the BOC cut rates by 0.25% to 4.75% as expected.

The BOC said in its policy statement that it achieved progress in controlling inflation, with confidence increasing that inflation is heading towards the 2% target. 

The BOC’s decision comes as inflation slowed down from 3.4% in December to 2.7% in April.