The Bank of Canada raised the interest rate once again, shocking a section of the market. I honestly expected this as the fundamentals aimed at it, with inflation still high, a tight labour market, the US still very aggressively raising rates, and the time it takes for people to renew their mortgages and take higher rates. Also, relative to inflation interest rates are still around historical averages.

It sadly does mean higher debt costs for everyone. This will also mean a slowdown in the medium term, but how big will this be (either a recession or not) is anyone’s guess. Canada has a safer banking system, so interest rate risks are significantly lower, giving more runway to the BoC for future rises.

CTV News London interviewed me about this yesterday. I speak around 6 minutes in.

I had the opportunity to be at CBC News‘ Power and Politics on Friday speaking about the debt ceiling. First time in a TV studio! Time went so fast I didn’t even mentioned anything about the specific impact on the stock and bonds markets of either a shutdown or a default. As there is a deal now, my second point on the specifics of the deal are more important. Any deal could impact Canada’s bottom line for years to come. So far, it seems like a general reduction in spending growth to no more than 1% yearly, rather than specific programs cut, we’ll know in the next few days. These are good news for Canada in general, at least much better than cuts that could threaten specific strategic industries.

The interview is below, I start at 29:18.

Extending the coverage, the Canadian Press interviewed me about it. The interview was then featured at The Toronto Star, here. Also, CIXXFM here in London took a bit of a different path, focusing more on the personal finance side of it (don’t panic!!). This interview can be read here.