Bank of Canada Appoints Specialists to Evaluate Its Internal Examination of Pandemic Policy Measures

The Bank of Canada has appointed three experts to evaluate its internal review of the central bank’s policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The experts include Pablo Hernández de Cos, former governor of the Bank of Spain; Kristin J. Forbes, a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee; and Trevor Tombe, an economics professor at the University of Calgary.

In June, Bank of Canada deputy governor Sharon Kozicki announced that a review would be conducted to identify lessons from the bank’s actions.

During March 2020, the Bank of Canada reduced its key interest rate to almost zero in reaction to the economic shutdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, with indications that rates would remain exceptionally low for an extended period.

The central bank also initiated its first quantitative easing program, involving the purchase of government bonds to further reduce interest rates.

The Bank of Canada intends to release the internal review and external assessment by the end of the year.

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