Guidelines and Creativity Key to Restoring Financial Confidence: Crisis Working Group on Monetary and Financial Measures

June 22, 2020 – Governments and regulators should set out guidelines to allow for creativity in encouraging investments, such as a “sandbox” where innovative approaches can be tested, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute working group report.

The C.D. Howe Institute Crisis Working Group on Monetary and Financial Measures argues such measures would increase the confidence of lenders and investors when engaging with businesses.

The group, co-chaired by David Dodge, former Governor of the Bank of Canada, and Mark Zelmer, former Deputy Superintendent, OSFI, also tackled issues such as the underwhelming uptake of certain support measures offered by governments, uncertainty on future policy responses to the pandemic,…

Jeremy M. Kronick – A Baseline Understanding Of Fiscal Sustainability

From: Jeremy M. Kronick To: Government debt watchers Date: June 15, 2020 Re: A baseline understanding of fiscal sustainability When the COVID-19 crisis erupted, and it was clear economies would be shut down, there was widespread agreement that both fiscal authorities and central banks would have to inject unprecedented stimulus to create a bridge to […]

Kronick, Ambler – The Bank Of Canada’s Next Trick? Balancing The Balance Sheet

From: Jeremy M. Kronick and Steve Ambler To: Monetary policy watchers Date: June 11, 2020 Re: The Bank of Canada’s next trick? Balancing the balance sheet Even before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate announcement last week, the eyes of monetary policy watchers had shifted elsewhere – to the Bank’s expanding balance sheet. There was little surprise when the […]

Bank Of Canada’s Next Trick Involves A Delicate Three-way Balancing Act – Globe And Mail Op-ed

Even before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate announcement on Wednesday, the eyes of monetary policy watchers had shifted elsewhere – to the bank’s expanding balance sheet.

There was little surprise when the central bank left its target for the overnight rate at 25 basis points, with the deposit rate paid to banks also remaining at 25 basis points.

In fact, the target overnight rate is expected to remain where it is – a level at which the bank considers further cuts to be counterproductive – until at least well into 2021.

It is clear that the overnight rate will not be the centrepiece of the bank’s monetary policy for the foreseeable future.

Instead, the bank’s balance sheet and how it stickhandles it will…

Andrew Spence – Whither Inflation When Supply Chains Come Home?

From: Andrew Spence To: Inflation watchers Date: May 28, 2020 Re: Whither Inflation when Supply Chains Come Home? Canada was forced to ride into the medical supply wild west as pandemic driven supply shortages laid bare our inability to handle surge capacity in healthcare.   And the suddenly exposed lack of domestic production capacity for […]

Bank of Canada Should Keep Overnight Rate at 0.25 Percent, Focus on Implications of Expanded Balance Sheet: C.D. Howe Institute Monetary Policy Council

May 28, 2020 – The C.D. Howe Institute’s Monetary Policy Council (MPC) recommends that the Bank of Canada maintains its target for the overnight rate, its benchmark policy interest rate, at 0.25 percent for at least a year.

The MPC provides an independent assessment of the monetary stance consistent with the Bank of Canada’s 2 percent inflation target. Jeremy Kronick, Associate Director, Research, chaired today’s meeting, sitting in for the MPC’s usual chair, William Robson, the Institute’s President and CEO. Council members make recommendations for the Bank of Canada’s upcoming interest-rate announcement, the subsequent announcement, and the announcements six months and one year ahead.

All ten members…

Kronick, Zelmer, Dodge – Inflation Target: The Only Anchor Left

To: Policymakers in Ottawa From: Jeremy M. Kronick, Mark Zelmer, and David A. Dodge Date: May 26, 2020 Re: Inflation Target – The Only Anchor Left As governments across the country continue to announce massive fiscal stimulus, fiscal anchors have been appropriately set aside. However, to keep investor confidence in Canadian dollar denominated debt high, […]

S2 E8 – Monetary Anchors with Mark Zelmer and Jeremy Kronick

Canada is emerging from the first wave of the pandemic with high levels of private and public debt. That’s why the Crisis Working Group on Monetary and Financial Measures is urging Canada to recommit to getting our fiscal and monetary houses in order once COVID-19 has passed. Working Group co-chair Mark Zelmer and C.D. Howe […]

Kronick, Munn – Ensuring Capital For The Recovery

From: Jeremy M. Kronick and Duncan T. Munn To: Financial Sector Regulators Date: May 11, 2020 Re: Ensuring Capital for the Recovery The COVID-19 crisis has ravaged economies and damaged private sector balance sheets all around the world, Canada included. The Bank of Canada has seen its balance sheet more than triple in the last […]

Kronick, Koeppl – For A Revamped Federal Backstop

From: Jeremy M. Kronick and Thorsten Koeppl To: Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance Date: May 8, 2020 Re: For a Revamped Federal Backstop The debate on whether and how the federal government should support the provinces given the exceptional circumstances surrounding COVID-19 has raged on over the last few weeks. Terms such as fiscal federalism, […]

Calibrating Macroprudential Policies for the Canadian Mortgage Market

While the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on the housing market are yet unknown, a new C.D. Howe Institute report provides a blueprint for policymakers and regulators on the tools and timing of interventions in the housing market to address threats to financial stability. In “Calibrating Macroprudential Policies for the Canadian Mortgage Market,” authors Scott […]

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