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This monthly newsletter features the latest research publications by Bank of Canada economists including external publications and working papers published on the Bank of Canada’s website.

To counter that uncertainty and bolster consumer and business confidence, the Bank of Canada moved aggressively to provide monetary stimulus. Between last September and January 2002, we lowered interest rates by 200 basis points, bringing the total reduction since January 2001 to 375 basis points.

This monthly newsletter features the latest research publications by Bank of Canada economists including external publications and working papers published on the Bank of Canada’s website.

The Bank of Canada’s monetary policy is appropriate to return Canadian inflation to its 2 per cent target as worldwide economic uncertainty lingers, Governor Stephen S. Poloz said today in Toronto. The global economy is facing significant headwinds that could restrain growth for a prolonged period, including efforts by households and financial institutions to reduce their debt and those by governments to […]

The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1 ¾ percent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 2 percent and the deposit rate is 1 ½ percent.

When Paul and I appeared before this Committee last April, we said that the economy appeared to be operating slightly below its production capacity, and that we expected it to move back to full capacity in the second half of 2006. In our October Monetary Policy Report, which we published last Thursday, we said that economic growth in the first half of the year was somewhat stronger than we had previously expected. Indeed, 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.

Business sentiment has deteriorated markedly since the autumn survey, as the effects of the international financial crisis and the weak global economy intensified and spread to domestic demand. Almost all indicators are at their lowest level since the survey began in 1997.

Since the start of the millennium, developments in the global economy have led to important changes throughout the Canadian economy and to serious challenges for many sectors and regions. Because nobody can anticipate precisely how the world will unfold, the best we can do is to ensure that our economy is as flexible as possible.

Cover page

Promissory Notes

The notes featured on the cover measure approximately 21 cm x 8 cm and form part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada.

Photography by Gord Carter, Ottawa

Responses to the autumn survey indicate that the combination of weak U.S. demand, volatile financial markets, and slowing momentum in the West are weighing more heavily on business activity in Canada.