(Reuters) - Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Sunday said Canada still has a path to a "soft landing," where it could stabilize economically after the blow by the COVID-19 pandemic, without facing a severe recession that many fear, CBC News reported https://bit.ly/3bqWcWY. Freeland in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live said she has to strike a balance between helping people in Canada suffering from the effects of inflation and pursuing a policy of fiscal restraint, or risk making the cost of living problem worse. She was open to further action on affordability issues but believes the measures already in place will help reduce the impact on Canadians, the report said. One is supporting Canadians with affordability challenges and the other is fiscal restraint, because I don't want to make the Bank of Canada's job harder than it already is," the report quoted Freeland as saying. Canada's annual inflation rate accelerated to 7.7% in May, up near a 40-year high, far above Bank of Canada's April forecast that it would average 5.8% this quarter.

Source: CBC News June 26, 2022 23:21 UTC