Bank of Canada deputy governor says bar for using QE again will be very high

A senior Bank of Canada official says the unusual measures it took during the pandemic helped boost the economy, but the bar for using quantitative easing again will be very high.

The comments came in a speech in Ottawa to the Canadian Association for Business Economics as central bank works to rebuild trust with the public and be transparent in how it works.

With its key policy interest rate already as low as it could go in 2020, deputy governor Sharon Kozicki says the central bank decided to start buying more government bonds than usual in a bid to keep interest rates low. 

But Kozicki says the bank faced an unprecedented economic shock when it decided to use quantitative easing and the bar for it to use it again will be very high.