What is the current Bank of Canada interest rate?

The Bank of Canada policy interest rate (overnight rate target) is 2.25% as of October 2025, following a series of rate cuts from the peak of 5.00% in July 2023. The Bank has held the rate at 2.25% through September 2026. Check the Bank of Canada website for the most current rate.

How often does the Bank of Canada change interest rates?

The Bank of Canada makes 8 scheduled interest rate announcements per year, roughly every 6 weeks. The Governing Council can also make emergency rate changes between scheduled dates, as it did in March 2020 during COVID-19.

What was the highest Bank of Canada interest rate ever?

The Bank of Canada''s bank rate reached a peak of 21.03% in August 1981 during the fight against double-digit inflation. The overnight rate target, which replaced the bank rate as the primary policy tool in 1994, peaked at 5.00% from July 2023 to June 2024.

How do Bank of Canada rate changes affect me?

Rate increases raise variable mortgage rates, HELOC rates, and loan rates (you pay more). Rate decreases lower borrowing costs. For savers, rate increases improve GIC and HISA returns, while cuts reduce savings yields.

Bank of Canada Interest Rate History 2026

Current Rate

Metric	Value
Current target overnight rate	2.25% (effective October 30, 2025)
Bank Rate	2.5% (effective October 30, 2025)
Cycle peak (since 2009)	5% (reached July 13, 2023)
Next scheduled announcement	September 2, 2026

Source: Bank of Canada Valet API, series V39079 (target rate) and BR.CDN (Bank Rate), fetched 2026-09-02, as of September 1, 2026.

For the full 2026 announcement calendar, see the Bank of Canada rate announcement schedule.

Full Rate Change History (2009–Present)

Date	Decision	Policy Rate	Change
April 21, 2009	Data begins	0.25%	—
June 1, 2010	Hike	0.5%	+0.25%
July 20, 2010	Hike	0.75%	+0.25%
September 8, 2010	Hike	1%	+0.25%
January 21, 2015	Cut	0.75%	-0.25%
July 15, 2015	Cut	0.5%	-0.25%
July 12, 2017	Hike	0.75%	+0.25%
September 6, 2017	Hike	1%	+0.25%
January 17, 2018	Hike	1.25%	+0.25%
July 11, 2018	Hike	1.5%	+0.25%
October 24, 2018	Hike	1.75%	+0.25%
March 4, 2020	Cut	1.25%	-0.5%
March 16, 2020	Cut	0.75%	-0.5%
March 27, 2020	Cut	0.25%	-0.5%
March 3, 2022	Hike	0.5%	+0.25%
April 14, 2022	Hike	1%	+0.5%
June 2, 2022	Hike	1.5%	+0.5%
July 14, 2022	Hike	2.5%	+1%
September 8, 2022	Hike	3.25%	+0.75%
October 27, 2022	Hike	3.75%	+0.5%
December 8, 2022	Hike	4.25%	+0.5%
January 26, 2023	Hike	4.5%	+0.25%
June 8, 2023	Hike	4.75%	+0.25%
July 13, 2023	Hike	5%	+0.25%
June 6, 2024	Cut	4.75%	-0.25%
July 25, 2024	Cut	4.5%	-0.25%
September 5, 2024	Cut	4.25%	-0.25%
October 24, 2024	Cut	3.75%	-0.5%
December 12, 2024	Cut	3.25%	-0.5%
January 30, 2025	Cut	3%	-0.25%
March 13, 2025	Cut	2.75%	-0.25%
September 18, 2025	Cut	2.5%	-0.25%
October 30, 2025	Cut	2.25%	-0.25%

Source: Bank of Canada Valet API, series V39079 (“Target for the overnight rate”), fetched 2026-09-02. Valet API serves V39079 only from 2009-04-21 onward; earlier history is not pipeline-sourced.

Historical Rate Timeline (2015-2026)

Year	Start Rate	End Rate	Direction	Key Events
2015	1.00%	0.50%	2 cuts	Oil price crash
2016	0.50%	0.50%	No change	Steady recovery
2017	0.50%	1.00%	2 hikes	Growth returned
2018	1.00%	1.75%	3 hikes	Strong economy
2019	1.75%	1.75%	No change	Trade uncertainty
2020	1.75%	0.25%	3 emergency cuts	COVID-19 pandemic
2021	0.25%	0.25%	No change	Recovery, inflation rising
2022	0.25%	4.25%	7 hikes	Aggressive inflation fight
2023	4.25%	5.00%	3 hikes	Rate peaked at 5.00%
2024	5.00%	3.25%	5 cuts	Inflation cooling
2025	3.25%	2.25%	4 cuts	Easing continued through October
2026 (to Sep)	2.25%	2.25%	No change to date	Held at every 2026 meeting amid energy-price and trade uncertainty

Historical Rate Milestones

Period	Rate Range	Context
1980-1981	17-21%	Highest rates ever — inflation crisis
1990-1991	11-14%	Recession
1996-2000	3-5.5%	Goldilocks period
2001-2002	2-4.5%	Dot-com bust, 9/11
2009-2010	0.25-1.00%	Global financial crisis
2015-2017	0.50-1.00%	Oil crash, slow recovery
2020-2022	0.25%	COVID-19 emergency low
2022-2023	0.25-5.00%	Fastest tightening in history
2024-2026	5.00-2.25%	Easing cycle, on hold since October 2025

How Rate Changes Affect You

Borrowers (Rates Go Up = You Pay More)

Product	Rate Tied To	Impact of 0.25% Hike
Variable rate mortgage ($500K)	Prime rate	+$72/month
HELOC ($100K balance)	Prime rate	+$21/month
Variable personal loan ($20K)	Prime rate	+$4/month
Fixed mortgage (new)	Bond yields	Indirect, usually follows
Credit card	Usually fixed	Minimal change

Savers (Rates Go Up = You Earn More)

Product	Rate Tied To	Impact of 0.25% Hike
HISA ($50K balance)	Bank policy	+$125/year potential
1-year GIC ($50K)	BoC rate + spread	+$100-$125/year potential
TFSA savings ($50K)	Bank policy	+$125/year potential
Money market funds	Short-term rates	+0.20-0.25% yield increase

Key Relationships

Rate Change	Prime Rate	Variable Mortgage	HISA Rate	GIC Rate
BoC cuts 0.25%	Drops 0.25%	Decreases ~0.25%	Decreases ~0.10-0.25%	Decreases ~0.15-0.25%
BoC hikes 0.25%	Rises 0.25%	Increases ~0.25%	Increases ~0.10-0.25%	Increases ~0.15-0.25%

Prime Rate History

Effective Date	Prime Rate	Change
October 30, 2025	4.45%	-0.25%
September 18, 2025	4.70%	-0.25%
March 13, 2025	4.95%	-0.25%
January 30, 2025	5.20%	-0.25%
December 12, 2024	5.45%	-0.5%
October 24, 2024	5.95%	-0.5%
September 5, 2024	6.45%	-0.25%
July 25, 2024	6.70%	-0.25%
June 6, 2024	6.95%	-0.25%
July 13, 2023	7.20%	+0.25%
June 8, 2023	6.95%	+0.25%
January 26, 2023	6.70%	+0.25%
December 8, 2022	6.45%	+0.5%
October 27, 2022	5.95%	+0.5%
September 8, 2022	5.45%	+0.75%
July 14, 2022	4.70%	+1%
June 2, 2022	3.70%	+0.5%
April 14, 2022	3.20%	+0.5%
March 3, 2022	2.70%	+0.25%
March 27, 2020	2.45%	-0.5%
March 16, 2020	2.95%	-0.5%
March 4, 2020	3.45%	-0.5%
October 24, 2018	3.95%	+0.25%
July 11, 2018	3.70%	+0.25%
January 17, 2018	3.45%	+0.25%
September 6, 2017	3.20%	+0.25%
July 12, 2017	2.95%	+0.25%
July 15, 2015	2.70%	-0.25%
January 21, 2015	2.95%	-0.25%
September 8, 2010	3.20%	+0.25%
July 20, 2010	2.95%	+0.25%
June 1, 2010	2.70%	+0.25%
April 21, 2009	2.45%	—

Prime rate = Bank of Canada overnight rate + the industry-standard 2.2% spread, applied to each historical rate change. Overnight rate history: Bank of Canada Valet API, series V39079, fetched 2026-09-02.

Formula: Prime rate = BoC policy rate + 2.20% (this spread holds almost always)

How Rate Decisions Are Made

Factor	What BoC Watches
CPI Inflation	Target: 2% (1-3% control range)
Core inflation (CPI-trim, CPI-median)	Strips out volatile items
GDP growth	Economic output and trends
Employment	Unemployment rate, job creation
Housing market	Prices, sales, construction
Consumer spending	Retail sales, household debt
Global factors	US Federal Reserve, oil prices, trade
CAD exchange rate	Impact on imports/exports

BoC Rate vs US Federal Reserve

Date	BoC Policy Rate	US Fed Funds Rate	Spread
March 2025	2.75%	4.25-4.50%	-1.50%
December 2024	3.25%	4.25-4.50%	-1.00%
June 2024	4.75%	5.25-5.50%	-0.50%
July 2023	5.00%	5.25-5.50%	-0.25%
March 2022	0.50%	0.25-0.50%	+0.00%
March 2020	0.25%	0.00-0.25%	+0.00%

If Canada’s rate is much lower than the US rate, it can put downward pressure on the Canadian dollar, making imports more expensive.

What Analysts Expect

These are general market expectations and not investment advice. Actual decisions depend on economic data.

Factor	Direction
Inflation trend	Moving toward 2% target
Economic growth	Slowing but positive
Housing market	Sensitive to rate changes
General expectation	Gradual further easing possible
Neutral rate estimate	2.25-3.25%