Media Relations

The Governor stressed that the real value of a floating currency for Canada is that it helps absorb some of the impact of external shocks that affect Canada differently than the United States because of important differences in the economic structures of the two nations.

Professor John Chant of Simon Fraser University has been chosen to fill the visiting economist position of Special Adviser in the Bank of Canada for a one-year term beginning in September 2001.

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is lowering its target for the overnight rate by one-quarter of one percentage point to 4 1/2 per cent. The operating band for the overnight rate is correspondingly lowered, and the Bank Rate is reduced by one-quarter of one percentage point to 4 3/4 per cent.

The appointment of Mark Jewett as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to the Bank of Canada has been approved by the Board of Directors of the Bank. Mr. Jewett will work in close collaboration with the Governing Council of the Bank on all management and financial stability matters. He will join the Bank on 25 June 2001.

The Bank of Canada today released the document Renewal of the Inflation-Control Target: Background Information, which provides additional details on the target arrangements and on how the Bank plans to implement them in order to increase the predictability of inflation over the longer term. This release follows the announcement yesterday by the Government of Canada and the Bank that the inflation-control target is being renewed for a period of five years to the end of 2006.