As a result of stubborn inflation and stronger then expected economic growth signs are becoming more clear that Canadians could be seeing interest rate hikes sooner then previously anticipated.

Bank of Canada’s Mark Carney did not directly state that higher rates were on the way however, he did issue his clearest indication to date that his year-old commitment to keep the policy rate at the record 0.25 per cent until July was “expressly conditional” on inflation remaining tame.

In a speech to a business audience, the bank governor noted that both underlying core inflation and economic growth have grown slightly stronger, although broadly proceeding as expected.

The tip-off to economists was that he changed his language on his conditional commitment on interest rates, which has led to historically low rates for both consumers and businesses in Canada and helped the country recover from recession.
“This commitment is expressly conditional on the outlook for inflation,” he told the Ottawa Economic Association.
It was the first time Carney has undercut the commitment in such pointed language.

“They still have considerable latitude, but the changes that would be required to their forecast are consistent with hiking rates sooner than markets are anticipating,” said Derek Holt, Scotiabank’s vice-president of economics. He said Carney may move as early as June 1.

But Holt stressed that Carney’s overall message to Canadians is that rates will remain low by historical standards for some time.
“No matter what, we emerge from this with lower rates at the end point of the hiking campaign than in past cycles. He’s saying the outlook is clouded with risks and there’s a number of reasons to expect growth to be lower than past cycles.”

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Source: Julian Beltrame, The Canadian Press