Central Banks

Macklem Warns Against Hiking Too Early or Too Late on Oil Shock

Tiff Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada, during a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. The Bank of Canada held interest rates steady, saying it would “look through” the Middle East war’s immediate inflation impact as it kept focus on downside growth risks.Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg

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By Erik Hertzberg

April 17, 2026 at 7:00 PM UTC

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said central banks around the world are positioned differently when it comes to economic slack and inflation, and their responses to the oil price shock are likely to vary.

“We’re all feeling like you don’t want to jump too early and raise interest rates and lower growth, particularly when growth is already weak,” Macklem told reporters in a callback from his meetings at the International Monetary Fund in Washington.