Bank of Canada surprised by core inflation rise
Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge said on Thursday the central bank had been surprised by the rise in Canada’s core inflation to 2.4% in February from 2.1% in January, but cautioned against putting too much emphasis on data from one month.”Obviously it was more than most economists, including ourselves, were expecting,” said Dodge, who uses core inflation to guide the bank’s interest rate policy.
“There could well have been some special factors in that, and we’re going to have to evaluate, when we get a little more, whether there’s any change there or not,” he added.
He also told a news conference that the Bank of Canada did not see any extra stimulation from this month’s federal budget than what was originally envisaged in the bank’s forecasts.