OTTAWA – Forecasters are expecting the Bank of Canada to move ahead with another interest rate hike in July, even as they expect the annual inflation rate to slow significantly. Statistics Canada is set to release its consumer price index report for May on Wednesday, providing the most up-to-date inflation reading ahead of the Bank of Canada’s interest rate decision on July 12.
“I think this release is probably going to be a fairly optimistic one for inflation, in the sense that we are expecting the inflation rate to go down below four per cent,” said James Orlando, TD’s director of economics. On the food inflation front, Orlando is also hopeful that price increases may be slowing more meaningfully. “We haven’t had the same deceleration of food prices as the U.S. has had on a monthly basis recently. And so that’s something that you’re kind of hoping that’s gonna start coming through in Canada as well,” he said. In April, grocery prices were 9.7 per cent higher than a year ago. Inflation ticked slightly higher to 4.4 per cent in April, marking the first increase since last summer. The report sparked concern at the Bank of Canada that progress on inflation was slowing, despite its aggressive interest rate hikes since March 2022…
Source: ctvnews.ca
