The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition Stephen Poloz is refusing to call it a recession, but the Bank of Canada governor says the country needs another jolt of interest rate relief. The Globe's Barrie McKenna writes the central bank lowered its trend-setting overnight rate a quarter percentage point Wednesday to 0.50 per cent. The central bank also slashed its forecast for the economy, admitting for the first time that gross domestic product will likely decline in both the first and second quarters. The BoC said growth for the full year will reach just 1.1 per cent, down from the nearly 2 per cent it was predicting just three months ago. Mr. Poloz said it will take months before any recession is made official. "I'm not going to engage in the debate over what we actually call this," Mr. Poloz told reporters in Ottawa. "No doubt, we have worked our way through a mild contraction." The Canadian dollar lost more than a cent to end at 77.40 U.S. cents in the wake of the decision, its lowest level since the depth of the recession in 2009. Lower rates could exacerbate record household debt levels and add fuel to overheated housing markets in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver.