BoC’s Macklem: We’re not close to limit of divergence with Fed
Bank of Canada (BoC) Governor Tiff Macklem reiterated on Wednesday that there is a limit to how far the Canadian central bank can diverge on rates from the Federal Reserve (Fed), but they’re not close to that limit.
Key quotes
"For many of our citizens, this has been their first experience with high inflation, and it has been painful.”
"We need to meet people where they are and ensure they understand what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”
"Recent history has been a stark reminder that inflation is our common enemy.”
“It's reasonable to expect more cuts on the horizon, but that the central bank is taking it "one meeting at a time."
“There are limits to that divergence, but we’re not close to that limit.”
Market reaction
At the time of writing, USD/CAD is trading 0.02% lower on the day to trade at 1.3720.
Bank of Canada FAQs
The Bank of Canada (BoC), based in Ottawa, is the institution that sets interest rates and manages monetary policy for Canada. It does so at eight scheduled meetings a year and ad hoc emergency meetings that are held as required. The BoC primary mandate is to maintain price stability, which means keeping inflation at between 1-3%. Its main tool for achieving this is by raising or lowering interest rates. Relatively high interest rates will usually result in a stronger Canadian Dollar (CAD) and vice versa. Other tools used include quantitative easing and tightening.
In extreme situations, the Bank of Canada can enact a policy tool called Quantitative Easing. QE is the process by which the BoC prints Canadian Dollars for the purpose of buying assets – usually government or corporate bonds – from financial institutions. QE usually results in a weaker CAD. QE is a last resort when simply lowering interest rates is unlikely to achieve the objective of price stability. The Bank of Canada used the measure during the Great Financial Crisis of 2009-11 when credit froze after banks lost faith in each other’s ability to repay debts.
Quantitative tightening (QT) is the reverse of QE. It is undertaken after QE when an economic recovery is underway and inflation starts rising. Whilst in QE the Bank of Canada purchases government and corporate bonds from financial institutions to provide them with liquidity, in QT the BoC stops buying more assets, and stops reinvesting the principal maturing on the bonds it already holds. It is usually positive (or bullish) for the Canadian Dollar.