The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Oct. 25, edition that the Bank of Canada is sticking with a 2-per-cent inflation target for another five years. A Bloomberg dispatch to The Globe reports that the BOC had studied the possibility of raising the target to give it more room to add stimulus. The BOC said in a joint statement with the finance department Monday the costs of a change were too high. "Given such challenges, monetary policy frameworks have themselves come under intense scrutiny" around the world, the bank said from Ottawa. "Throughout this period, the Bank of Canada's flexible inflation targeting framework has continued to demonstrate its value." The effectiveness of inflation targeting, now a worldwide standard, has been thrown into question as countries struggle to meet their targets even with interest rates at historical lows. Canada's inflation rate has been below the BOC's goal for most of the past two years, and has averaged 1.4 per cent over the past five years. That is the biggest gap relative to target since the policy was adopted in 1991 -- including the period around the 2008 global financial crisis. Canada's main inflation target will remain untouched.