OTTAWA/BENGALURU (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada will kick off 2018 by hiking interest rates, buoyed by robust job growth, even as uncertainty around the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement lingers, a Reuters poll found.
Analysts expect the BoC to raise rates three times this year, starting on Wednesday with a 25 basis point increase that will take the benchmark borrowing cost to 1.25 percent.
The central bank raised rates twice back-to-back last year as it removed monetary stimulus it put in place in 2015 amid a collapse in the price of oil, a major export for Canada.
