OTTAWA—The Bank of Canada stayed true to its word from January that it would pause on interest rate hikes, but said it is “prepared to increase the policy rate further if needed to return inflation to the 2 percent target.” 
Canada’s central bank held its overnight rate target at 4.5 percent on March 8, saying that “global economic developments have evolved broadly in line with the outlook in the January Monetary Policy Report (MPR).”
The pause marked the first time since January 2022 that the BoC did not raise rates. It raised interest rates eight consecutive times for a combined 4.25 percentage points starting in March 2022….