Op-Eds

Since starting its fight against inflation last March the Bank of Canada has been focused on little else. That is in stark contrast with many of the country’s finance ministers, who have raised spending and increased government hiring. Coordination between our monetary and fiscal authorities would make the Bank’s job a lot easier. Failing that, however, the Bank should continue do what is necessary to get inflation back to target.

The onset of the pandemic saw unprecedented coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities around the globe, including in this country. The Bank of Canada lowered its policy rate to its effective lower bound (0.25 per cent) and then turned to less conventional monetary…

When everyone understands the role they play, this leads to better public policy. For our monetary and fiscal authorities, this means central bankers ensuring a stable value for the currency they oversee, and governments creating the conditions for strong economic growth.

Unfortunately, we lack that in Canada right now, with inflation as high as it has been in 40 years, and an economy potentially heading toward a recession. The Bank of Canada is working hard to bring down inflation. If governments were indeed boosting the economy’s potential, it would make the bank’s job a heck of a lot easier.

With mandates that target inflation – and ones that target maximum sustainable employment as well, such as that of…

La nature a beau être aimée de tous, il sera difficile de trouver tout l’argent nécessaire pour stopper, puis renverser sa perte de biodiversité, ai-je constaté en allant fouiner à la COP15. Un beau défi pour la finance durable.

L’expression « 30 x 30 » qui a retenu l’attention fait allusion aux 30 % de la terre et aux 30 % de l’eau qui doivent être protégés d’ici 2030. Mais elle désigne aussi les 30 milliards de dollars américains* d’aide annuelle aux pays en développement promise à partir de 2030.

Ce deuxième 30 x 30 est un compromis. Les pays riches étaient réticents, eux qui n’arrivent pas à livrer les 100 milliards par an promis au Sud pour lutter contre le…

« C’est seulement quand la marée se retire qu’on découvre qui nageait nu », a constaté Warren Buffett pendant la crise financière de 2008. Cette fois, des investisseurs sont surpris à poil par l’effondrement de la plateforme FTX, vedette de l’univers crypto.

Des institutionnels réputés ont perdu 1,9 milliard US dans le capital de FTX, dont Ontario Teachers, BlackRock, SoftBank, Temasek et Sequoia. La Caisse, qui a brûlé 150 millions dans Celsius, est en belle compagnie.

Pire est le sort d’un million de clients pris dans un trou de 8 milliards dans les liquidités. La faillite de la deuxième plus importante plateforme de cryptos projette une onde de choc qui fera d’autres victimes.

Voici…

The Bank of Canada continued its tightening cycle on Wednesday by announcing a 50-basis-point increase in its target for the overnight rate. That came as a surprise to those who expected a 75-basis point increase, but it’s still a hefty hike.

It continues the Bank’s front-loading of its rate increases, which is intended to reduce the scale of future rate hikes. In our view, this latest increase was needed – both to reduce the harm of further increases and to re-anchor inflation expectations – but now the time has come to pause and reflect.

Since the Bank’s September 7th rate boost, the consumer price index (CPI) numbers for August and September have been published. Headline inflation ticked…