The Bank of Canada has announced a 50-basis-point reduction – the second in a row – that brings the policy interest rate to 3.25%. As always, here to break down what this latest announcement means for Canadians is Scotiabank’s Chief Economist Jean-François Perrault.  

He tells us what factors may have led to this decision, what it might indicate about the health of the Canadian economy, if and when we’ll see further cuts, and much more. 

For an up-to-date breakdown of the Bank of Canada’s key interest rate and its change over time alongside inflation numbers, visit our interest rate page. 

For legal disclosures, please visit http://bit.ly/socialdisclaim and www.gbm.scotiabank.com/disclosures 

Key moments this episode: 

1:04 – JF’s main takeaway from the Bank of Canada’s latest rate cut decision 

1:54 – Does this mean that the Bank has gotten inflation under control? 

3:00 – Who benefits from a lower interest rate? 

5:19 – How Bank of Canada’s monetary policy affects fixed rate versus variable rate mortgages 

6:01 – How the rate cut affects businesses 

6:29 – The main factors that motivated the central bank’s decision 

7:47 – Do aggressive cuts indicate economic trouble is on the way? 

9:26 – What can we expect from upcoming interest rate decisions from the Bank of Canada? 

10:27 – Could increased consumer spending trigger inflation growth? 

11:39 – What impact might temporary tax cuts, government spending have on interest rates or inflation? 

14:08 – The main takeaways for Canadians about the Bank of Canada’s decision