(Ottawa) The Bank of Canada was careful with its words in its latest interest rate announcement, seeking to avoid encouraging speculation that rate cuts would be considered in the near future.

This is according to the summary of the central bank’s deliberations published on Wednesday, which details the board’s discussions leading to its latest decision on interest rates.

The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate at 5.0% earlier this month amid signs the economy was weakening.

The summary states that while the governing council decided that holding rates steady was the right decision at this time, it considered the possibility that its decision could be misinterpreted as a sign that rates will not rise further or that rate cuts could happen soon.

To limit this risk, the Bank of Canada decided to emphasize that it would monitor upcoming economic data and assess whether rates need to rise further.

Earlier this year, the central bank announced a pause in rate hikes to assess the effects of previous rate hikes on the economy, but financial markets responded by starting to speculate on when rate cuts interest rates could take place.