Thursday, January 23, 2014

No change in prime rate... yet again


As you know, your variable rate mortgage, line of credit and/or student loans are all based on the Prime Rate and here is your personal update from me on the recent Bank of Canada announcement on changes to their Overnight Rate which in most cases impacts your Prime Rate. 

At 10:00 am EST, Wednesday January 22nd, 2014 the Bank of Canada again continued to maintain their overnight rate.   What this means to you is that once again the prime rate on your mortgage, line of credit or student loan will not change and remains at 3.00%.  This is fabulous news but don’t forget to make the most of the low payments you still have, as the rate will increase in the future.  

Here is an excerpt of the announcement from the Bank of Canada and what they had to say about their decision today: 

Inflation in Canada has moved further below the 2% target, owing largely to significant excess supply in the economy and heightened competition in the retail sector. Global growth is expected to strengthen over the next two years with the US leading this acceleration, aided by diminishing fiscal drag, accommodative monetary policy and stronger household balance sheets. The improving U.S. outlook is affecting global bond, equity, and currency markets. Growth in other regions is evolving largely as projected. In Canada, growth improved in the second half of 2013. However, there have been few signs of the anticipated rebalancing towards exports and business investment. Stronger U.S. demand, as well as the recent depreciation of the Canadian dollar, should help to boost exports and, in turn, business confidence and investment”. 

Based on this news, the Bank still does not expect to increase their rate in the foreseeable future with any change most likely to occur late 2014 or even not until 2015!   Remember, that any increase to the prime rate since 1992 has only been by 0.25% at any ONE time, so you won’t see a large significant increase all at once.  
The next announcement on any change to the prime rate is March 5th, 2014 at which time I’ll be in touch again.





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