In an expected move, the Bank of Canada, in its meeting moments ago, raised the interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.50% from 4.25%. The bank’s interest report stated that inflation in Canada is still high, although it fell to 6.3% in December from 8.1%, affected by the decline in gasoline prices.

The bank expects that inflation rates will decrease this year with the decline in energy prices and the impact of high interest rates, as the bank expects the consumer price index to decline to about 3% in the middle of the year and return to the bank’s target of 2% in the next year 2024.

The bank expects the Canadian economy to grow by 3.6% in the year 2022, slightly stronger compared to the expectations of Actuer. next year. The Board believes that it will maintain the current interest rate, but is ready to intervene if necessary to bring inflation back towards the bank’s target.

The Canadian dollar is trading at 1.3404 levels, declining since the announcement of the statement against the US dollar by more than 50 points, after the bank confirmed that it will stop the process of tightening monetary policy at the current interest rates.

The markets are awaiting the statements of the Governor of the Central Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, after less than an hour in the press conference that follows the statement.