Bank of Canada Governor Poloz speech

  • says Canada faces asymmetric risks, as the downside risks are far more dire than the upside ones
  • says asymmetric risks simplify our risk management problem for the time being
  • under normal circumstances, we would also be concerned with adding to financial vulnerabilities
  • we have not forgotten about financial vulnerabilities
  • we will put more weight on these vulnerabilities in our risk management framework once confident that our primary objective will be met
  • scenario planning has played a central role in our response to the crisis so far, and i expect that will continue
  • if we were to misjudge the balance of deflationary and inflationary forces during the recovery, the economy could pick up too much steam and inflation could rise
  • we are alert to this risk but at present we see the risk of disinflation as more immediate
  • by April 24, cumulative purchases of assets by the bank stood at c$260 billion, equivalent to well over 10 percent of Canada's GDP
  • Asset purchases so far have roughly tripled the size of our balance sheet, which began the episode at CAD 120bn

more to come

Bank of Canada Governor Poloz speech