OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada will have to grapple with a last-minute inflation report, a shift in Ottawa’s tariff stance and lingering uncertainty about government spending plans heading into its interest rate decision on Wednesday.

Financial markets are overwhelmingly expecting the central bank to break a string of three consecutive holds and cut its policy rate by a quarter point to 2.5 per cent, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.

Before the Bank of Canada announces its monetary policy decision, governing council will get a look at August inflation data from Statistics Canada on Tuesday.

Economist expectations for the consumer price index is for the annual rate to rise to two per cent, from 1.7 per cent in July, market data shows.

Tony Stillo, director of Canada economics at Oxford E

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