The Bank of Canada has Become the Buyer to Reduce Strain on the Financial System
The Bank is continuing to purchase at least $5 billion in Government of Canada Securities per week
The Bank has announced NEW programs: the Provincial Bond Purchase Program (up to $50 billion), and the Corporate Bond Purchase Program (up to $10 billion)
These measures are warranted to prevent panic selling and to instil confidence in the Canadian Market
Why did the Bank of Canada not Further Drop Rates like they Suggested Earlier in March?
The Bank considers 0.25% to be its "effective lower bound," meaning rates will not likely drop any further
The Bank does not think negative interest rates are the appropriate response to the pandemic
What is the Unemployment Rate Looking Like?
Over one million Canadian jobs lost in March and numbers are continuing to grow
Over 6 million Canadians have filed for the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit
Should Canadians Expect to be Taxed More to Help the Deficit?
Our deficit is being compounded by cheques written to the Household Sector to stay home and not work. [As Canadians, we must admit that the Central Bank and Government of Canada has acted well during these challenging times!]
Experts believe that this pandemic isn't a permanent shock to the government's balance sheet, once we are able to go back to work and 'normalise', our economy will be able to bounce back quickly and we should see the deficit come down by 2022. If not, then we should expect a raise on taxes on the current generation; however, this is unlikely
Is COVID-19 Pandemic Comparable to the Great Recession?
We are in a deep recession as GDP growth is -25% to -30% on an annual basis
Given that our GDP is down dramatically, there is an endgame to this pandemic. It is only a matter of time, not IF but WHEN we discover a vaccine
Government, Central Bank, and Banks are all buying time until we reach this time
The difference of those losing jobs in 2008, 1991 vs today? The vast majority of those who are currently on EI know they have jobs waiting for them when they return. We're only frozen in time.
Although our economy will not be normal right away, we can expect our GDP to eventually get closer to positive
*The information above is taken from Sherry Cooper [Chief Economist of DLC], David Rosenberg [Chielf Economist & Strategist of Rosenberg Research & Associates], and Ben Tal [Deputy Chief Economist of CIBC World Markets].
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