Nitani and Nusrat – Solving Canada’s SME Financing Conundrum
To: Small business watchers From: Miwako Nitani and Aurin Shaila Nusrat Date: August 3, 2023 Re: Solving Canada’s SME Financing Conundrum Canada’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an out-sized role in generating jobs and promoting economic prosperity. Even so, Canadian growth-oriented SMEs lag behind those of other advanced countries and face financing hurdles, in raising debt and attracting […] The Missing Ingredient: Solving Canada’s Shortcomings in Growing Large Firms and Increasing Productivity
Solving Canada’s perennial productivity problem will partially be addressed by creating companies that scale from start-up to world-class status. Canada has been challenged at scaling companies and, in fact, has the lowest number of manufacturing companies with over 250 employees per one million in population in the 35 countries with employment data available from the […] Lawrence Herman – Private Rule-Making Elbows into Global Governance
From: Lawrence Herman To: International Standards Observers Date: July 28, 2023 Re: Private Rule-Making Elbows into Global Governance Components of the global order, standards in particular, are increasingly generated through private-sector action – outside of governments – and often referred to as “private global rulemaking.” As I outlined in an earlier Intelligence Memo, these rules and standards can achieve […] Scaling Up Is Hard To Do: Financing Canadian Small Firms
What’s holding back small business growth in Canada? Canada’s small and medium-sized enterprises are vital to job creation and economic prosperity but struggle with access to financing compared to peers in other advanced economies. Bank of Canada’s latest interest rate hike may be one too many – Globe and Mail
On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada increased its policy rate to 5 per cent, a level not seen since March, 2001. Citing continuing tightness in labour markets and still-firm consumer spending, the bank reasoned there is still excess demand in Canada’s economy, and that Wednesday’s rate hike was necessary to continue to bring activity in line with productive potential. But if that adjustment is already happening, this hike may turn out to be one too many.
Among the many challenges a central bank faces in a fight against high inflation is the mixed signals it gets as it hikes rates to get inflation down. In Canada, the year-over-year headline inflation rate fell to 3.4 per cent in May. However, most of that was driven by a fall in…
I’m not convinced the earlier rate hikes have worked their way through: Economist Jeremy Kronick
Jeremy Kronick, director of monetary and financial services research at the C.D. Howe Institute, joins BNN Bloomberg to preview the Bank of Canada’s next rate decision due on Wednesday, and explains why he believes there is no need for further interest rate hikes at this time. Devlin, Forssell – Federal Mortgage-Bond Consolidation Should be a Non-Starter
To: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland From: Ed Devlin and Anders Forssell Date: June 26, 2023 Re: Federal Mortgage-Bond Consolidation Should be a Non-Starter The federal government intends to engage in market consultations on the potential consolidation of Canada Mortgage Bonds (CMB) within the Government of Canada borrowing program, it said in its last budget. A decision is expected in […] Consumers bring forward spending if they expect continued inflation: C.D. Howe’s Jeremy Kronick
Jeremy Kronick, director of monetary and financial services research at the C.D. Howe Institute, tells BNN Bloomberg that elevated inflation expectations could be a reason for the jump in household spending in today’s Q1 GDP data. He says lower business spending makes him less optimistic about improvement in productivity. On the BoC’s rate meeting next month, he says the central bank may choose to see if future data continues to support tightening before hiking rates again.
Duncan Munn – Toward a Real-Time Framework for Bank Supervision
From: Duncan Munn To: Canada’s Financial System Regulators Date: May 10, 2023 Re: Toward a Real-Time Framework for Bank Supervision Much ink has been spilled over the past few weeks regarding the turmoil in the banking industry following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Now, another regional bank, First Republic Bank has failed after $100 billion of deposits went […] Buyers Beware: The Cost of Barriers to Building Housing in Canadian Cities
Provincial and municipal governments should cut excessive regulations on new housing development projects and lower the upfront costs on homebuyers to help Canadians grapple with skyrocketing housing prices. The author estimates the gap between the marginal cost of construction for new housing and the market price in major Canadian city areas. This gap shows the […] Jeremy Kronick on BNN – Lessons learned from the Bank of Canada and U.S. Federal Reserve’s inflation fight so far
Jeremy Kronick, Director of Monetary and Financial Services Research at the C.D. Howe Institute, recently joined BNN Bloomberg to talk about the lessons learned from the Bank of Canada’s inflation fight and how it differs from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Jeremy Kronick on BNN – BoC says Inflation, Financial Stress Affecting Rate Plans
Jeremy Kronick, Director of Monetary and Financial Services Research at the C.D. Howe Institute, recently joined BNN Bloomberg to discuss Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem’s speech on balancing inflation with systemic risks.