OTTAWA, March 12 (Reuters) - The Bank of Canada released the following text of opening remarks by Governor Tiff Macklem on Wednesday:

The Bank of Canada has cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.75 per cent, the lowest since July 2022. It is the seventh consecutive cut in the central bank’s monetary easing cycle as Canada’s inflation rate has been within policymakers’ target range of about 2 per cent.

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point and called the trade battle with the US a “new crisis,” but pushed back on expectations that policymakers were on a predetermined cutting path.