Side by Side: What Does Money Cost at the Central Bank?

On Wednesday the Bank of Canada raised its policy rate by a quarter point to 2.5 per cent, its first increase since July 2023, and a few hours later the Federal Reserve held still by ten votes to two, with both dissenters asking for a rise. Frankfurt and Tokyo were still in their meeting rooms. One measure, one moment: the main policy rate each bank had in force on the evening of 28 October 2026, in per cent.

Australia

4.60 per cent, after a quarter point rise on 30 September, the Reserve Bank’s fourth of the year and 100 basis points in all. Canberra charges the most in this table by more than half a point. Martin Place has turned the cash rate into a subscription: renewed automatically, cancelled only in writing.

United States

3.75 to 4.00 per cent, held on 28 October on a 10 to 2 vote; Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack wanted a quarter point more. The Fed is the only bank here that sets its rate as a range, which lets it sit at two prices at once. Two of its twelve voters spent Wednesday wishing they were in Ottawa.

Euro area

2.50 per cent on the deposit facility, in force since 16 September, with the main refinancing rate at 2.65. Frankfurt keeps three official rates where its peers manage with one, so it can be exact and still need a footnote. Its Governing Council met on Wednesday and Thursday, which kept its own verdict out of this table.

Canada

2.50 per cent, up from 2.25 on 28 October. Tiff Macklem said there “could be a need to raise the policy rate further, but given the uncertainties, we will proceed carefully.” Ottawa has drawn level with Frankfurt to the hundredth of a point, though only by setting its main rate beside the ECB’s lowest, a tie both sides can report as a win.

Japan

1.25 per cent, raised from 1 per cent on 18 September by seven votes to two, the highest in 31 years. All 16 economists surveyed before the meeting that ends today expected a hold. Tokyo has reached a summit unseen for three decades, at an altitude the other four would call the foothills.

Verdict

Canberra charges the most and Tokyo the least, and each describes its own figure as the prudent one. Washington has two voters who would rather be Ottawa, and Ottawa has a governor promising to be careful about becoming Canberra. Frankfurt, holding three rates, could match nearly anyone on the list by choosing which one to quote. Spread between 1.25 and 4.60 per cent, these five central banks have, without once meeting each other, designed the carry trade each will warn against in its next speech.