Economy

Bank of Canada currently don’t see strong case for issuing digital currency

Published

3 years ago

May 26, 2021

The Bank of Canada is thinking in more concrete terms about how its digital currency might look and work but it does not currently see a strong case for issuing one, a deputy governor said on Wednesday.

The central bank is well into the development process on a cash-like digital currency that it could release to the public, should the need arise. A number of other central banks are doing similar work.

“In terms of where we are with the project … we don’t currently see a strong case for issuing it, but the world is progressing very rapidly,” Deputy Governor Timothy Lane said in a panel discussion on cryptocurrencies.

Lane said the Bank of Canada is keeping an eye on factors that could prompt it to move, such as a sharp drop in cash usage in Canada, or if a large technology company were to launch a cryptoasset that quickly gained traction with consumers.

Lane said the bank had undertaken various “proof-of-concept” experiments with private-sector partners but would have to do “a whole lot more” before it settles on a model for its planned digital currency.

“We’re now at a phase where we’re actually thinking in more concrete terms of, well if we were going to launch something … then what would it look like, what attributes would it have, and how would it connect with the rest of the financial system?” he said.

Lane noted that while a central bank digital currency could not be fully anonymous, it would have to be private enough for consumers to use without worrying about their personal data being tracked.

The Bank of Canada said last week that cryptoasset markets were an emerging vulnerability for Canada‘s financial system, even though price volatility is keeping cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin from being widely adopted as a payment method.

Lane said that Bitcoin is used “largely as a speculative asset currently.”

(Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Additional reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Economy

PBO projects deficit exceeded Liberals’ $40B pledge, economy to rebound in 2025

Published

16 hours ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.

However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.

The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.

The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.

The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says levels of food insecurity rose in 2022

Published

2 days ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.

In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.

The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.

Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.

In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.

It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 1.3% to $69.4B in August

Published

2 days ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.

The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.

The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.

Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.

Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.

Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

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