OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada held interest rates steady on Wednesday, as expected, even as it nudged growth forecasts higher, saying the big unknown of what policies U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will enact makes it prudent to wait and see.

In its first major report since the U.S. election, the central bank pointed to potential positives and negatives for the Canadian economy from changes Trump may bring, saying infrastructure spending could boost growth but tax cuts could hurt Canadian competitiveness.

It did not attempt to assess the impact of possible U.S. protectionist measures on Canadian exports, saying it remained unclear what trade rules may be changed, but said Trump tax and infrastructure policies will boost U.S. growth by 0.1 percentage points in 2017 and 0.3 percentage points in 2018.

It said the key risks to the outlook included a distinctly stronger growth path in the United States which could trigger "animal spirits", as well as rising global protectionism in response to U.S. protectionism.

Amid the uncertainty, the bank left official interest rates unchanged at 0.50 percent, citing "material excess capacity" in the economy and "significant slack" in the labor market. While consumer spending is expected to remain solid, the housing market should cool in response to mortgage rule changes and rising market interest rates.

More to come