While responding to questions from the press on the Bank of Canada’s Financial Review Summary – 2019, which was published earlier in the day, Governor Stephen Poloz said that the escalation of the U.S.-China trade war remained as the primary risk.
Key quotes (via Reuters)
- Risk of sharp increase in long-term interest rates driven by higher global risk premiums is moderate, but uncreasing.
- Closely monitoring risk that stricter mortgage guidelines are shifting consumers towards private lenders and credit unions.
- Decline in global bond yields since the start of the year has lowered Canadian mortgage rates, so household borrowing is likely to pick up again.