BoC governor Poloz assures that Canada’s economic slowdown will be temporary
Canadians paid 8.1% more on mortgage borrowing costs in March compared to the same month last year, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
This accompanied similar rises in the annual inflation rate, influenced by movements in the prices of fresh vegetables (up by 15.7%) and auto insurance (up by 5.6%), The Canadian Press reported.
The StatsCan consumer price index in March went up by 1.9% year-over-year, surpassing the 1.5% increase in February and the 1.4% in January.
These readings were in line with the expectations of economists polled by Thomson Reuters Eikon.
Earlier this month, Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz assured that Canada’s economic slowdown will be fleeting, and would even pick up pace significantly in the second half of this year.
The BoC governor cited the steady economic growth at the beginning of the year, along with a flexible exchange rate, as elements strengthening the nation’s fundamentals.
“There are challenges in the Canadian and global economies that we need to manage, but there are clear signs that Canada is adjusting to the challenges,” Poloz explained. “Recent economic data have been generally consistent with our expectation that the period of below-potential growth will prove to be temporary.”
In its latest outlook, the International Monetary Fund estimated that the Canadian economy will expand by 1.5% this year, and then by a stronger 1.9% next year, propelled by an expected global growth of 3.6% in 2020.
