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What sources of financing do Indigenous-owned businesses in Canada use, and what are their expectations about prices, wages and inflation? We find Indigenous-owned firms are significantly less reliant on financial institutions as sources of financing compared with non-Indigenous firms. We also find Indigenous-owned firms have higher inflation expectations and weaker wage-growth expectations.

Businesses remain optimistic about the economic outlook. Indeed, the results of this survey are broadly similar to those of the spring 2005 survey.

Examination of progress in the Bank’s exploration of two alternatives to the current inflation-targeting framework: (i) lowering the inflation target and (ii) shifting to a price-level target; a review of arguments for and against price-level targeting, focusing on its costs and benefits compared with inflation targeting; assessing the merits of price-level targeting vis-à-vis inflation targeting from a debt-revaluation perspective; quantifying redistribution of wealth in Canada in the face of unexpected inflation.

But first, I would like to address an important subject; that is, how to promote the efficient operation of Canada's financial markets. Rather than approaching this topic in a detailed, technical way, I want to speak about two qualities that are essential to their efficient operation: trust and transparency.

The results of the spring survey point to more optimism among firms than in the winter survey, as some of the uncertainty dampening the economic outlook has dissipated.

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem talks about the Bank’s latest interest rate announcement and what’s happening with inflation beyond the headline numbers. He also discusses why the Bank’s 2% inflation target is the right one.

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.

We compare the determinants of consumer inflation expectations in the US and Canada by analyzing two current surveys. We find that Canadian consumers rely more on professional forecasts and the history of actual inflation when forming their expectations, while US consumers rely more on their own lagged expectations.

Weak demand and uncertainty regarding future demand continue to weigh on firms’ investment decisions and near-term capacity planning, according to responses to the autumn survey.

These past few months have been busy for central bankers, to say the least, and the past few days are certainly no exception. While developments on Wall Street have garnered much attention, the cost of living has also been an issue for us all, whether we're buying gas at the pumps, booking an airline ticket, or just picking up a loaf of bread at the grocery store.