OTTAWA—The Bank of Canada is holding its key interest rate at 0.25 percent in response to what it calls the “extremely uncertain'' economic outlook from the COVID-19 pandemic, and plans to keep it there until the picture improves.
In its updated outlook, the bank said Wednesday it expects the economy to contract by 7.8 percent this year, driven downward by a year-over-year contraction of 14.6 percent in the second quarter.
