Days after deciding to stand pat on interest rates, Bank of Canada executives are out in public talking up the Canadian economy.
On Thursday, the central bank’s Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins was in Calgary to deliver a speech where she reiterated the main messaging from Wednesday's decision to keep interest rates unchanged. That message is that the Bank of Canada has growing confidence that an economic rebound in underway.
In her speech, Wilkins said that, despite pockets of weakness and trade uncertainties, the Canadian economy remains strong and resilient. Before experiencing a set back late in 2018, Canada’s economy had been near capacity, with unemployment at historic lows, wages improving and inflation returning to around 2%, she said.
"Seen from a macro perspective, Canada's economic performance has been relatively solid. That's the perspective that we, as central bankers, need to take to meet our inflation objective," said Wilkins.
The comments echoed what the Bank of Canada’s position that there’s underlying strength in the economy, and the current slowdown is likely just a "detour," as Wilkins characterized it. In her remarks, Wilkins added that evidence is accumulating that the Bank of Canada's growth accelerating story is on track, and discrepancies between a strong jobs market and weak spending data can be explained by behavior in oil and construction sectors. Facing slower sales, these companies have kept employment levels steady but cut hours
