News Briefs

Bank of Canada officials were increasingly concerned about potential risk of consumption slowdown amid growing slack in the labor market and excess supply in the economy when they cut interest rate during July 24 meeting, according to the central bank's summary of deliberations.

Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman is worried about reacceleration in cost of living, saying that she 'still see some upside risks to inflation'

Eurozone GDP quarterly growth rate sped up to 0.4% in Q3, an upside surprise compared to an expectation of 0.2% increase, countering widespread worries that the currency bloc is sliding into economic stagnation.

Bank of Canada maintained its benchmark interest rate at 5% but warned about persistent underlying inflationary pressure.

Bank of Canada held its overnight rate at 5% after its March monetary policy meeting, citing "risks to the outlook for inflation, particularly the persistence in underlying inflation."

Bank of Canada isn't entirely sure what the country's natural rate of interest is and the central bank will have to discover it over time, said Governor Tiff Macklem.

G20's economic officials will gather in India next week to discuss ways to boost lending to developing countries from multilateral institutions and to reform the international debt system, Reuters cited unnamed Indian officials.

Canada's CPI rose 2.78% in February, a further slowdown from the 2.86% increase in the January

Annual consumer prices in the Eurozone rose by 6.1% YoY in May, down from 7% in April.

Canada's inflation rate eased to 1.8% in February, the lowest since July last year.  The deceleration in headline CPI year-over-year growth rate can mostly be explained by the base effect resulted from the GST/HST holiday last year. 

Canada's headline CPI rose 2.9% in January, hitting Bank of Canada's inflation-control target range of 1% - 3% for the first time since March 2021.