The C.D. Howe Institute’s Monetary Policy Council (MPC) today recommended that the Bank of Canada keep its target for the key overnight interest rate at 4.25% when it makes its next announcement on April 24.

The MPC is a panel sponsored by the C.D. Howe Institute to provide an independent assessment of the monetary stance most appropriate for the Bank of Canada as it seeks to achieve its 2% inflation target.

The vote for an unchanged rate was a narrow one: five of the nine members attending called for an unchanged rate, while four called for a 25-basis-point increase in the target to 4.50%.