麻豆影视

Skip to main content

Macklem tells senators path for falling inflation rates is uncertain

Share
OTTAWA -

The country's top central banker is warning of uncertainty for how quickly three-decade-high inflation rates will come back down to the Bank of Canada's comfort zone.

Governor Tiff Macklem told the Senate's banking committee on Wednesday that the cloudy outlook is due to the unique circumstances surrounding the pandemic and the global reopening of local economies.

Supply-chain issues that has driven up shipping costs and consumer prices could last longer, Macklem said, as he noted that they have been more persistent and pervasive than the bank first expected.

The result has been that the annual pace of inflation climbed in December to 4.8 per cent, a pace that hadn't been seen since September 1991.

Macklem told senators that the annual inflation rate could stay "uncomfortably high" around five per cent over the first half of 2022, noting the impact that will have on lower-income Canadians as prices rise for gas and food.

The uncertainty in the outlook prompted senators to ask Macklem to defend the bank's recent forecast that inflation rates would drop close to the Bank of Canada's comfort zone by the end of 2022, given how off the mark previous forecasts for inflation turned out to be.

Macklem said inflation could fall faster than expected if price pressures ease quickly for goods, or even go in reverse. On the other hand, he said, supply chain issues could, like the pandemic, be longer lasting.

"The virus is still out there. It's possible that Omicron affects production facilities in other parts of the world. So there is certainly still some uncertainty," Macklem told senators.

"What I do want to underline, though, is that we will be, and we are, working to manage that uncertainty."

He pointed to the bank's clear signal that interest rates will have to rise to bring inflation back to the bank's two per cent target.

The Bank of Canada held its key policy rate unchanged late last month at 0.25 per cent, which is where the rate has been since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, but dropped its promise to keep rates at rock-bottom levels.

Statistics Canada reported Tuesday that real gross domestic product in November rose just above the levels seen pre-pandemic in February 2020. Macklem said the reading reinforced the bank's view that the economy was back at its productive capacity.

He also noted that employment is above pre-pandemic levels, businesses are having a hard time filling job openings and wage increases are picking up.

Coupled with high inflation, economists believe the Bank of Canada will raise its trendsetting interest rate in March, although Macklem didn't say when hikes would start, how much the bank would raise the rate, or how many increases could come over the course of the year.

"It's clear that interest rates need to be on a rising path," Macklem said. "The slope of that path is going to depend on economic developments, and if consumers spend more, the slope of that path, likely, has to be steeper."

An increase in the central bank's key rate would influence the rates charged on things like mortgages. Macklem also said the central bank plans to reduce its holding of federal bonds once rates rise, which would also push up interest rates.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2022.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

An organization that ranks the best universities across the globe says its latest report shows a concerning trend that several of Canada鈥檚 institutions are slipping down its list.

A British Columbia provincial court judge says a Boston Bar man who shot a teacup Chihuahua named Bear claiming it was menacing his chickens was not justified in killing the animal.

A man who showed up at a rental car company only to be told his online reservation would not be honoured is entitled to compensation, B.C.'s small claims tribunal has ruled.

Emotions boiled over after a judge acquitted two out of three defendants in a manslaughter case, while the third accused has since died.

On September 11, Madeleine Gervais was the victim of a theft in Ottawa's west end. It happened in the Loblaws parking lot in College Square, when she was approached by a man and a woman who insisted to help her load her groceries into her car.

Local Spotlight

Have you ever seen videos of hovercrafts online or on TV and thought, 'Wow, I wish I could ride one of those.' One Alberta man did, and then built his own.

Saskatchewan鈥檚 Jessica Campbell has made hockey history, becoming the first ever female assistant coach in the National Hockey League (NHL).

A B.C. couple is getting desperate 鈥 and creative 鈥 in their search for their missing dog.

Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.

A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.

Bernie Hicks, known as the 鈥楤atman of Amherst,鈥 always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.

Bubi鈥檚 Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.

Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

Manitobans are in cleanup mode after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province this weekend.

Stay Connected