But at a time when markets are hanging onto every word from the central banks, any details on how Governor Tiff Macklem and his fellow governing council members decided it was time to hit the pause button on rate hikes will be of interest. (Writing by Denny Thomas; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
TORONTO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada will
release minutes from its policy setting meeting for the first
time on Wednesday, as the central bank battles to restore
credibility lost during last year's fight to contain inflation.
The Bank of Canada has come under a rare attack from
critics, including the opposition Conservative leader Pierre
Poilievre, for misjudging inflation, which led to renewed calls
for it to release minutes and be more transparent about its
decision-making process.
While inflation was a global problem, the Bank of Canada has
stood out from its peers, including the U.S. Federal Reserve,
the Bank of England and the European Central Bank, in not
providing some form of record of their meetings.
Following a review from the International Monetary Fund, the
central bank accepted a key recommendation and agreed to release
the "Summary of Deliberations," similar to meeting minutes
released by other central banks.
On Wednesday, the bank will release minutes of its January
meeting at 1:30 p.m. ET (1830 GMT), in which the central bank
raised the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.5% and said
it would likely hold off on further increases for now.
The IMF's 98-page report, which followed a voluntary review
with the Bank of Canada, included 10 recommendations, including
that the bank publish summaries of its rate decisions and
provide more transparency on its "bilateral collaborations" with
government.
The Bank of Canada's rate decisions are made by consensus,
and Wednesday's report could fall short of what some analysts
have been hoping to see in terms of exposing disagreements.
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