News
Jan. 29, 2016 | Cody Stuart
Bank of Canada's overnight lending rate exposes disparities in Canada's housing markets
The Bank of Canada's decision to leave its overnight lending rate unchanged at 0.5 per cent is expected to have vastly different impacts on markets across the country, say experts.
The bank's decision to stand pat on the rate it established last July instead of downgrading it by 0.25 per cent will do little to help revive what's expected to be a sluggish economy in 2016, said BMO Financial Group chief economist Douglas Porter in an interview with CREB®Now.
"It's certainly not going to be enough to turn around Calgary," he said. "Is it enough to revive the Canadian economy? No, a quarter point is not going to do it. But there's only so much a central bank can do without risking other things, and I think we've seen those risks in the past year."