Canadian businesses are running flat out, and will need to invest more in operations and hire more staff, says a survey released Monday by the Bank of Canada.

“Investment intentions remain strong, particularly in the primary sector,” the central bank said in its winter outlook. “Hiring intentions of businesses are robust across most sectors of the economy.”

The survey raised hopes in many sectors of the economy, but it also raised the spectre of higher interest rates as the bank tries to slow down an economy that may be moving too fast for comfort.

The Bank of Canada is widely expected to boost its trend-setting overnight interest rate by a quarter-point to 3.5% on Jan. 24. That would be the fourth such increase over the past year.

The United States is also expected to start raising interest rates after higher oil prices pushed year-over-year inflation to 5.4% in November.

In its survey, the Bank of Canada found firms in the West were especially confident. Many said they are now running at full capacity and would find it difficult to increase production and sales beyond current levels.

Fifty per cent of executives surveyed between Nov. 15 and Dec. 14 said they would have “some” or “significant” difficulty responding to unforeseen orders. That’s the highest level in more than five years reported by the central bank, which surveys about 100 companies for its outlook.