The Bank of Canada is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 0.25 percent.
The Bank has also announced new measures today to provide additional support to Canada’s financial system.
It says the Canadian economy was in a solid position ahead of the COVID-19 outbreak, but has since been hit by widespread shutdowns and lower oil prices.
The bank adds the outlook is too uncertain at this point to provide a complete forecast, but has two possible scenarios, detailed here.
The Bank has lowered its target for the overnight rate 150 basis points over the last three weeks. It has also conducted lending operations to financial institutions and asset purchases in core funding markets amounting to around $200 billion.
The next scheduled date for announcing the overnight rate target is June 3, 2020.
For the full announcement, please click here.
We have maintained our policy interest rate at 0.25% and announced new programs to buy corporate and provincial bonds, along with other actions to support Canada’s #economy amid the #COVID19 pandemic. https://t.co/LE9dLivew1 pic.twitter.com/GNFRjWSEeX
— Bank of Canada (@bankofcanada) April 15, 2020
Bank of Canada to Introduce a Provincial Bond Purchase Program https://t.co/E1dyI0rHDV
— Bank of Canada (@bankofcanada) April 15, 2020
Uncertainty around #COVID19 makes it hard gauge when and how quickly Canada’s #economy will recover from the pandemic. That’s why we present two different but plausible scenarios about how things could unfold. #cdnecon https://t.co/J0CmZVHtkp
— Bank of Canada (@bankofcanada) April 15, 2020