'PR job' or antidote to 'groupthink'? Bank of Canada to offer policy-meeting minutes
CTV
The Bank of Canada will offer minutes from its policy-setting meeting this week for the first time in its history, a move some analysts say will help restore credibility lost last year amid soaring inflation and encourage out-of-the-box thinking.
The Bank of Canada will offer minutes from its policy-setting meeting this week for the first time in its history, a move some analysts say will help restore credibility lost last year amid soaring inflation and encourage out-of-the-box thinking.
Annual inflation shot to 8.1% in June, the highest in 39 years and four times the Bank of Canada's 2% target. In December, inflation slowed to 6.3%.
The BoC began hiking rates in March when its benchmark interest rate stood at 0.25%, and most analysts expect another quarter-point rate increase to 4.5% when the six-member governor council meets on Wednesday.
The so-called "summary deliberations" from the meeting will be published on Feb 8. On the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund, the BoC in September said it would release minutes to improve transparency,
Other central banks including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank already provide some form of record of their meetings.
"Anytime inflation is high - and when it's been not high for the better part of 30 years to 40 years - the credibility of the institution is going to take a hit," said Jeremy Kronick, director of monetary and financial services research at the C.D. Howe Institute, a pro-business think tank.
One of the criticisms of central bankers over the past year has been "that there was a lot of groupthink happening," Kronick said, so offering a peek into the policy meeting "might allow people to see that there were debates and deliberations."
