Council Reports
April 9, 2020 – The C.D. Howe Institute’s Monetary Policy Council (MPC) recommends that the Bank of Canada maintain 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. William Robson, the Institute’s President and CEO, chairs the Council. 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.
Although the votes for individual members varied somewhat (see table), reflecting the unusual crisis-…
April 1, 2020 - The C.D. Howe Institute’s Monetary and Financial Measures Working Group, supported by a group of financial market experts, and co-chaired by former Governor of the Bank of Canada David Dodge and former Deputy Superintendent of OSFI Mark Zelmer, held its second meeting on Monday, March 30, 2020.
The working group agreed that, while there is a need for governments and central banks to monitor the effect of current crisis measures on debt and potential future inflation, these concerns are not a short-run issue and should not come at the expense of the immediate need for large-scale fiscal stimulus. To that end, the Monetary and Financial Measures Working Group recommends the following:
Quickly…Enhanced Government Credit Facility Needed: Crisis Working Group on Monetary and Financial Measures
March 25, 2020 - The Institute has established an expert crisis working group for finance and monetary policy, co-chaired by David Dodge, former Governor of the Bank of Canada, and Mark Zelmer, former Deputy Superintendent of OSFI. The group’s first meeting was held on Monday, March 23, 2020.
The crisis working group is calling for an expansive government guaranteed credit facility, in tandem with various fiscal measures, to help Canadians and the business community survive the COVID-19 economic crisis. Possible features of the facility could include:
100% guarantee by the Government of Canada, and available to Canadian firms either through federal and provincially-regulated…