Bank Canada will publish minutes meeting for first time
2023.02.08 07:51
Bank Canada will publish minutes meeting for first time
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – On Wednesday, the Bank of Canada will publish the minutes of its policy-setting meeting for the first time. This comes as the bank tries to regain the credibility it lost last year when it tried to control inflation.
There have been renewed calls for the Bank of Canada to release its minutes and be more open about how it makes decisions, with critics, including opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, accusing it of underestimating inflation.
The Bank of Canada stands out from its peers, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank, by not keeping a record of their meetings, even though inflation was a global issue.
The central bank agreed to release the “Summary of Deliberations,” which was similar to meeting minutes released by other central banks, following a review by the International Monetary Fund.
At 1:30 p.m. ET (1830 GMT) on Wednesday, the bank will release the minutes of its January meeting, in which it said it would likely hold off on further increases for the time being and raised the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.5 percent.
Following a voluntary review with the Bank of Canada, the IMF issued a 98-page report with 10 recommendations, including that the bank publish rate decision summaries and increase transparency regarding its “bilateral collaborations” with the government.
Consensus determines the Bank of Canada’s rate decisions, and the report on Wednesday may not reveal disagreements as much as some analysts had hoped.
However, any details regarding how Governor Tiff Macklem and his fellow members of the governing council decided it was time to press pause on rate hikes will be of interest to investors at a time when markets are awaiting every word from the central banks.
