COVID-19: Bank of Canada Updates Monetary Policy in Unscheduled Announcement

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On Friday, March 27, 2020, the Bank of Canada issued an unscheduled announcement, updating monetary policy and revealing new initiatives to defend Canadian households. Those announcements include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Lowering the overnight target rate by 0.5 per centage points to 0.25 per cent;
  • A quantitative easing program with the purchase of a minimum of $5 billion per week of Government of Canada securities in the secondary market;
  • A Commercial Paper Purchase Program (CPPP) will help to alleviate strains in short-term funding markets used by businesses (more details forthcoming)

The Bank of Canada’s next scheduled date for announcing the overnight rate target is April 15, 2020.

Read the full releases from the Bank of Canada: Rate announcement, Press conference opening statement.