The Bank of Canada on Tuesday cut its main interest rate by half a percentage point to one percent, the lowest in its history, in a bid to stimulate the economy and boost lending to consumers and businesses.

The bank has slashed 1.5 percentage points from its rate since last October.

However, Canada's chartered banks have not followed suit. In December, they passed on only two-thirds of the bank's cut of three-quarters of a percentage point.

Analysts said the rate cuts have done little to stimulate the economy so far.

Numbers released earlier this month show that Canada's economy lost 34,000 jobs in December, sending the unemployment rate up to 6.6 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2009)