The Canadian dollar soared this morning after the Bank of Canada announced it was hiking its key lending rate.

The loonie was up 0.67 of a U.S. cent at 78.06 cents US about an hour after the central bank91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s decision. The last time the dollar closed above 78 cents US was in August 2016.

The Bank of Canada says it91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s raising its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 0.75 per cent 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” its first increase in nearly seven years.

It had slashed its interest rates in 2015 to help the economy deal with a plunge in oil prices that began in late 2014. The bank91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s governor has said recently that those rate cuts have done their job.

Canada91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s dollar has been rising for weeks amid growing expectations that the rate would be raised. Its gain was was also helped on Wednesday by higher oil and gold prices.