The Bank of Canada is holding its key interest rate at 0.25 per cent in response to what it calls the “extremely uncertain” economic outlook from the coronavirus pandemic, and plans to keep it there until the picture improves. In its updated outlook, the bank said Wednesday it expects the economy to contract by 7.8 […]
The federal government is for the second time extending its program to subsidize wages in companies hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, this time until at least December. But the government is being warned it may have to move the end date into 2021. The program is the heart of the Liberals’ promise to help […]
Statistics Canada says Canadians’ buying patterns changed so much during the coronavirus pandemic that its measure of consumer inflation went a little wobbly. The agency previously reported that year-over-year inflation declined by 0.2 per cent in April, then took a further drop of 0.4 per cent in May as lockdowns put a damper on consumer […]
Nearly two million Canadian workers could remain unemployed this year, according to forecasts in the federal government’s long-awaited “fiscal snapshot.” The document released Wednesday details how the Trudeau Liberals see the coronavirus pandemic dragging down the domestic economy and sending the deficit to a historic $343.2 billion. The economic and fiscal report lays out the […]
The Bank of Canada’s latest review of business and consumer expectations has revealed how widespread uncertainty is muting rehiring and purchasing plans, published days before a federal update gives the Liberals’ outlook for the economy. The central bank’s business outlook survey suggested about half of firms foresee a rebound in their sales within the next […]
The coronavirus pandemic will leave some long-term economic damage that will only become clearer as the country moves further along a “prolonged and bumpy” course to recovery, Canada’s top central banker says. In his first speech as governor, Tiff Macklem said the central bank expects to see growth in the third quarter of this year […]
The economy appears to have avoided a worst-case scenario due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Bank of Canada said Wednesday as it kept its key interest rate steady at its lower bound. The bank left its target for the overnight rate unchanged at 0.25 per cent, which it has said is as low as it […]
Canada’s economy had its worst quarterly showing since 2009 through the first three months of 2020 owing to the novel coronavirus, Statistics Canada said Friday, warning an even steeper drop may be coming. Gross domestic product fell at an annualized rate of 8.2 per cent in the first quarter, including a 7.2-per-cent drop in March […]
Financial markets are showing signs of concern about how well companies can weather the coronavirus economic crisis, the Bank of Canada said in a report outlining issues the pandemic is having on business and household debt. The central bank has spent the last two months making a flurry of policy decisions that include slashing the […]
Tiff Macklem, a former second-in-command at the Bank of Canada, is returning to the central bank to take over the top job at a moment that he says cries out for bold, unprecedented responses to the economic crisis fuelled by the coronavirus. And he suggested that once the current crisis passes, a key focus for […]