toronto july 12 reuters  the bank of canada on wednesday hiked its key overnight benchmark by 25 basis points to 500 the highest level in 22 years in a widely expected move to fight inflation amid persistently strong economic growth story read more market reaction cad link httpswwwbankofcanadaca202307fadpressrelease20230712 comments derek holt vice president of capital markets economics at scotiabank there are conflicting views coming from the bank of canada the last time they had to hike was because in their view the policy rate was not sufficiently restrictive i dont think they are saying this at this meeting but at the same time they still sound open to further tightening so i think theyre just taking the summer off they want to take a few rounds of data and theyre leaving the door open for more hikes as needed in september