News

The giant emerging-market economies of China and India are truly changing the economic balance across the Pacific in a way that none of us can afford to ignore. The sheer size of these two economies is very impressive in itself: together, they account for close to 40 per cent of the world's population.

The Bank of Canada today released its April Monetary Policy Report, which reviews economic and financial trends in the context of Canada's inflation-control strategy.

The Canadian economy continues to adjust to developments in the global economy, such as stronger world demand, higher commodity prices, and the realignment of world currencies, including the Canadian dollar.

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is lowering its target for the overnight rate by one-quarter of one percentage point to 2 per cent. The operating band for the overnight rate is correspondingly lowered, and the Bank Rate is now 2 1/4 per cent.

To state the obvious, Canada is a very open economy, heavily dependent on foreign trade. What goes on in the rest of the world can have a substantial impact on our domestic economy.