The Bank of Canada announced a cut of a quarter of a percentage point to its key interest rate last week, bringing the rate down to 4.75%.
Canada is the first country in the G-7 to cut rates following the moves in recent years to increase rates throughout the worldwide economy. Canada has been increasing rates since March 2022 to deal with inflation.
The Canada central bank felt confident that inflation is moving towards its target of 2% and so were willing to make the cut.
Economists are predicting that this will start a move across the G-7 economies to cut interest rates. This would be good news for UK businesses. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) have also recommended that UK interest rates could be cut to 3.5% by the end of the year.
See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cldd6x6gglxo
The government has published a technical consultation on its new Founders’ Relief. The consultation itself provides an overview of the proposed qualifying conditions for it, including individual and company requirements and what must be satisfied. HMRC’s own figures, however, show that the strict conditions mean only about 600 individuals will be eligible to apply each year.
It’s bad news for mortgage holders and borrowers as the Bank of England (BoE) raises interest rates by a quarter point to 4% for the first time since August 2023.
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