The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, April 11, edition that CIBC economist Andrew Grantham said in a note that the Bank of Canada "appears to be moving only very slowly toward lowering interest rates." The Post's Gigi Suhanic writes that Mr. Grantham said BOC officials acknowledged progress is being made on core inflation, but want to see more data that reinforce the slowdown is sustainable. Mr. Grantham said the next two inflation reports due out before the bank meets on June 5 hold the "key" to whether the officials decide to cut rates soon. He adds, "The fairly neutral tone of the [BOC] statement shouldn't be a big surprise as the bank needed to justify why it didn't start cutting interest rates today." Capital Economics economist Stephen Brown said the clock is ticking down to the first interest rate cut, possibly in June. He said, "The acknowledgment by the BOC today that 'the data since January have increased our confidence that inflation will continue to come down' leaves the door open to an interest-rate cut at the next meeting in June." With the BOC no longer concerned that inflation is "too high," Manulife Financial's Dominique Lapointe is calling for four interest rate cuts in 2024, starting in June.