The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, June 11, edition that the Bank of Canada kept its benchmark interest rate at 2.25 per cent on Wednesday for the fifth consecutive time, citing uncertainty in monetary policy due to conflicting economic factors. The Globe's Mark Rendell writes that Governor Tiff Macklem has been carefully assessing the weak Canadian economy while mulling the inflation risk posed by rising global oil prices due to the Iran war. On Wednesday, Mr. Macklem downplayed the notion of a recession in Canada but noted that economic growth has been essentially flat for the past year. He also cautioned against being overly optimistic about the strong May jobs report. He said: "Economic weakness combined with rising inflation is a dilemma for monetary policy. Raising rates to dampen inflation could further slow the economy. Easing rates to support growth increases the risk that higher inflation becomes persistent. For now, holding the policy rate unchanged balances those risks." The stand-pat decision and Mr. Macklem's two-sided commentary reinforced the idea that the bank is in no rush to change interest rates in either direction. Financial markets expect it to remain on hold through most of the year.