Category: Bank of Canada

Focus on Financial Regulation to Mitigate Climate Change Alarms Experts

To begin to access the trillions of dollars needed to transition to green energy, policy-makers are increasingly justifying climate change as a threat to the financial system and using regulation to steer funding away from fossil fuels.


Financial Repression: Are Policy-Makers Really Doing All They Can to Fight Inflation?

Enter financial repression, which generally means ways in which the government effectively gets the private sector to pay down the public debt. 


Bank of Canada’s Inflation-Fighting Strategy May Not Be Enough

Commentary The Bank of Canada recently announced it would maintain the overnight rate it charges commercial banks to borrow from the central bank at 0.5 percent, and maintain the rate it offers those banks to keep reserves at the central bank at 0.25 percent. The bank also said it was ending its program of quantitative…


Inflation Tests Central Banks’ Resolve, Credibility

Central banks are under pressure to fight mounting inflation that’s looking less transitory than what they initially suggested.


Canadian Firms Face Labour Shortages as Expectations of Inflation Rise: Bank of Canada Survey

Even with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, Canadian businesses are recovering at a slow pace due to labour shortages and supply chain disruptions, which is leading to higher expectations of inflation, a new Bank of Canada survey says. The bank’s business outlook survey for the third quarter of 2021, published on Oct. 18, shows close…


Bank of Canada Moving Ahead on Preparing a Digital Currency

The Bank of Canada is hiring a product architect as it continues to move forward with its “contingency plan” for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), leading some to speculate about the potential consequences. A digital currency is a hot topic south of the border, as the U.S. public awaits the imminent release of a Federal…


As Big Firms Get Bigger, Managing the Economy Gets More Difficult

Big companies have strengthened their dominance in the economy relative to small businesses amid the pandemic and a rise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is afoot.


Bank of Canada Will Act to Cool Inflation If Prices Run Too Hot, Macklem Says

OTTAWA—The governor of the Bank of Canada says the central bank will rein in inflation if temporary price pressures stubbornly stick around and appear more permanent. Tiff Macklem says the central bank largely expects higher prices right now are temporary and the inflation rate will fall back to the bank’s two-percent target as the economy…


‘Devastating Consequences’ If Bank of Canada Continues to Finance Government Debt Without Repayment: Study

The idea that the federal government can rely on the Bank of Canada to continue printing money to sustain its debt without a clear commitment to repay—also known as Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)—poses huge risks to the Canadian economy, a study (pdf) published on May 18 found. “Modern monetary theory is a pipe dream, and…


Bank of Canada Warns of Rising Risks From Household Debt, and a Hot Housing Market

OTTAWA—The Bank of Canada says its concerns are mounting that households are piling on too much debt and posing what the central bank says is a key vulnerability to the economy. In its latest financial system review, the Bank of Canada said Thursday that many households have taken on large mortgages compared with their income,…