Federal Public Debt Charges Up $2 Billion With Latest Interest Rate Hike, PBO Estimates

Federal Public Debt Charges Up $2 Billion With Latest Interest Rate Hike, PBO Estimates
The Bank of Canada is shown in Ottawa in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
Isaac Teo
Updated:
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Public debt charges jumped nearly $2.3 billion with the latest interest rate hike by Canada’s central bank, according to estimates from a report by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

In September 2020, the PBO’s “Economic and Fiscal Outlook” forecast that a 1 percentage point increase in interest rate by the Bank of Canada (BoC) would raise public debt charges to $4.5 billion in 2021–22.