Policymakers stalling for time amid uncertain outlook

Despite a rapidly deteriorating outlook, the Bank of Canada defended its recent inaction on interest rates on the basis of it not knowing the details of the upcoming Federal budget, due to be delivered sometime in April. But if that budget fails to admit the size of the hole that the slump in oil prices has pushed the economy into, then the Federal government could end up under-estimating how much fiscal stimulus is needed. We get the sense that policymakers are stalling for time amid the uncertain outlook.