Bank of Canada increases policy interest rate by 50 basis points

OTTAWA, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Canada announced Wednesday it increased its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 1.5 percent and is also continuing its policy of quantitative tightening (QT).

The central bank said in a press release that the consumer price index in Canada reached 6.8 percent for the month of April, which is well above its forecast and will likely move even higher in the near term before beginning to ease.