Top Bank of Canada officials speak after rate decision
TORONTO (Reuters) — Below are some key quotes from a news conference by the Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem and Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers (NYSE:ROG) on Wednesday after the central bank held key interest rate at 5%.
MACKLEM ON GOVERNMENT SPENDING
«For next year, we expect (provincial and federal) government spending to grow at about 2.5%. If all those spending plans are realized, government spending will be adding to demand more than supply is growing and in an environment where we're trying to moderate spending and get inflation down, that's not helpful.»
ROGERS ON HOUSING SUPPLY
«Until we address that (housing) supply issue, interest rates on their own are not going to help us get back to a housing affordability situation or solution. So we're really pleased to see the degree of focus that governments are putting on this issue right now.»
MACKLEM ON NEGATIVE GROWTH
«We're expecting growth below 1% for the next three, four quarters… If you're predicting low positive growth, you can't rule out that — we're talking about small positive numbers — you can't rule out we're going to get some small negative numbers. So there could certainly be two or three small negative quarters.»
MACKLEM ON RECESSION, SOFT LANDING
«When people say the word recession, I think what they have in mind is a steep contraction in output and a large rise in unemployment. That's not what we're forecasting.»
«The path to a soft landing is narrow, and in this projection, that path has gotten narrower.»
ROGERS ON HIGHER BOND YIELDS
«We've seen bond yields particularly at the long end increase pretty sharply recently.»
«There's a number of factors that are contributing to that. Certainly I think the markets are adjusting to the fact
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