**THE CANADIAN PRESS**
**Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem and his Governing Council colleagues lowered borrowing costs at a fifth-straight meeting in Ottawa Wednesday.**

The Bank of Canada lowered interest rates by half a percentage point on Wednesday to help spur growth, marking the central bank’s fifth consecutive cut amid deepening worries about rising unemployment.

The Ottawa-based central bank cut the overnight rate by 50 basis points to 3.25%, according to a statement on its website. The central bank has now reduced borrowing costs by 1.75 percentage points since June, including a half point, or “jumbo,” cut in October.

Back-to-back, half-point cuts are very rare, reserved for deep downturns or the threat of one. Officials cited weaker-than-expected growth for the latest jumbo cut.

“With inflation back to target, we have cut the policy rate by 50 basis points at each of the last two decisions because monetary policy no longer needs to be clearly in restrictive territory,” Governor Tiff Macklem said in an opening statement to reporters at a press conference in Ottawa. “We want to see growth pick up to absorb the unused capacity in the economy and keep inflation close to 2%.”

Still, interest rates are now back in more normal territory, and the central bank is hinting it won’t be in such a hurry to lower them at future meetings.

“The Governing Council has reduced the policy rate substantially since June, and those cuts will be working their way through the economy. Going forward, we will be evaluating the need for further reductions in the policy rate one decision at a time,” Macklem said. “In other words, with the policy rate now substantially lower, we anticipate a more gradual approach to monetary policy if the economy evolves broadly as expected. Our decisions will be guided by incoming information and our assessment of the implications for the inflation outlook.”

The move will lower the prime lending rate at commercial banks to just under 5.5%. (Prime rates are currently 2.2 percentage points above the central bank’s policy rate).

The central bank cited a couple of risks it’s monitoring. On the downside, these include reductions in targeted immigration levels that it expects will produce a sharper slowdown in growth than anticipated, and the possibility of new U.S. tariffs on Canadian exports. On the upside, the Bank of Canada cited certain stimulative measures from federal and provincial governments.