Speeches and appearances

Past and recent movements in energy prices and in the exchange rate for the Canadian dollar, along with competitive pressures from China and other newly industrialized economies, are giving rise to significant ongoing adjustments in the Canadian economy. Given these adjustments and the slow growth of productivity in recent years, the Bank has slightly reduced its estimate of potential output growth for 2005 and 2006.

In the report, we said that the global and Canadian economies have continued to grow at a solid pace, and our economy now appears to be operating at full production capacity. Past and recent movements in energy prices and in the exchange rate for the Canadian dollar, along with competitive pressures from China and other newly industrialized economies, are giving rise to significant ongoing adjustments in the Canadian economy.

The Bank of Canada has been contributing to the goal of an efficient financial system in a number of ways. The Bank's monetary policy aims to keep inflation low, stable, and predictable.

Today, I will talk about two types of global economic imbalances. The first relates to the way that savings and investment are being distributed across countries in an increasingly uneven way. The second is the possibility that, over the next couple of decades, the global economy might face a protracted period in which desired savings exceed planned investment, partly because of demographic trends.

Global and Canadian economic developments have been unfolding broadly as expected, and the Bank's outlook for output and inflation in Canada through to the end of 2006 is little changed from the scenario outlined in the April Report. Strong growth in final domestic demand in Canada continues to offset the drag from net exports.