Canada Immigration Focus on Canadian Immigration Economy: The central bank of Canada, the Bank of Canada, announced on the 21st that it would keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5% and lowered its economic growth forecast for the future.
In a statement released that day, the Bank of Canada indicated that domestic inflation trends in Canada are in line with expectations and the economy is recovering. In particular, there are more obvious signs of strong growth in non-resource sectors, which is mainly attributed to the support of monetary policy and the depreciation of the Canadian dollar.
The Bank of Canada believes that growth in housing consumption provides support for the economy, but weak prices for commodities such as crude oil have dragged down exports and business investment, creating downward pressure on the economy. Therefore, the Bank of Canada has slightly revised downward its economic growth forecast for Canada for the next two years, with gross domestic product (GDP) expected to grow by 2% and 2.5% in 2016 and 2017, respectively, compared to 1.1% growth in 2015.
The Bank of Canada's interest rate decision is in line with market expectations. TD Bank of Canada released a report that day stating that the Bank of Canada's interest rate policy tone is cautious and has taken into account factors such as lower prices for commodities like crude oil.