Speeches and appearances

As you know, one of the events and themes commemorated on the new $50 bank note is the Persons Case. I am especially pleased to be here tonight, helping to celebrate the 75th anniversary of that historic case, and honouring the Famous Five, who helped to enshrine the rights of all individuals, in Canada and other countries around the world, to participate on equal terms in political life.

One theme that I heard repeatedly in Washington is that 2004 is turning out to be a better year than many had thought, particularly over the first half of the year. Indeed, the IMF is now projecting global economic growth of 5 per cent in 2004, which would be a marked improvement from the 3.9 per cent rate seen in 2003.

The Bank does look to the Chamber to help us understand how economic developments are unfolding at the industry level. And I particularly want to thank the Chamber for being an ongoing partner in our efforts to smoothly introduce three new high-denomination bank notes this year.

Let me start with our outlook for inflation. Higher-than-expected world oil prices mean that total CPI inflation is likely to remain above 2 per cent through the rest of this year, before falling slightly below core inflation in the second half of 2005.

The theme of this event is "Policy Coordination in an Integrated Global Economy." It seems as if the idea of policy coordination is making a comeback these days.