Macklem sees little impact of Canada budget on fiscal track
BNN Bloomberg
Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent budget did not significantly change the fiscal track that the government laid out in November.
It was “helpful” that Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland met the fiscal guardrails that she set out in her fall budget update, Macklem told reporters Friday after the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group in Washington. “At a macro level, there’s more money going out, there’s more money coming in on net.”
The 2024 federal budget, announced Tuesday, maintained Freeland’s pledge to hold the deficit at about $40 billion (US$29.1 billion). It projected revenue gains from better economic output and tax hikes for the richest Canadians and corporations, while adding hefty increases in spending for housing and defense. Some analysts had raised concerns that these expenditures would add to the expansionary policies of provinces, making the bank’s job in taming price pressures much harder.
Macklem also spoke of potential divergence in monetary policy across countries.
