August 23, 2003
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August 23, 2003
Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2003
Cover page
Canadian World War I War Bond
The $100 10-year bond of the FirstWar Loan is slightly larger than a sheet of legal-sized paper. It forms part of the National Currency Collection, Bank of Canada.
Photographed by Gord Carter, Ottawa.
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August 22, 2003
Measuring Interest Rate Expectations in Canada
Financial market expectations regarding future changes in the target for the overnight rate of interest are an important source of information for the Bank of Canada. Financial markets are the mechanism through which the policy rate affects other financial variables, such as longer-term interest rates, the exchange rate, and other asset prices. An accurate measure of their expectations can therefore help policy-makers assess the potential impact of contemplated changes. Johnson focuses on the expectations hypothesis, which measures expectations of future levels of the target overnight rate as implied by current money market yields. Although expectations can be derived from the current yield on any short-term fixed-income asset, some assets have proven to be more accurate predictors than others. The implementation of a policy of fixed-announcements dates has coincided with the increased predictive power of these short-term assets. As a result of this improvement, a relatively simple model of the yield curve can now provide an accurate measure of financial market expectations. -
August 22, 2003
Bank of Canada Operations during Current Power Difficulties
During the current power difficulties, the Bank of Canada in Ottawa has been operating from its back-up facility to provide essential services, such as monitoring financial markets and the critical clearing and settlement systems. -
August 21, 2003
Summer 2003 Consultations Views Sought on Issues Relating to the Design and Operation of The Real Return Bond Program
A consultation document on issues relating to the design and operation of the Real Return Bond program, prepared jointly by the Department of Finance and the Bank of Canada, is being published today. -
August 21, 2003
Real Return Bond Funding Review
The Real Return Bond (RRB) program was created in line with the Government's fundamental objective of raising stable, low-cost funding. -
August 21, 2003
Summer 2003 Consultation Document
The purpose of these consultations is to obtain the views of market participants on issues relating to the design and operation of the government Real Return Bond (RRB) program. -
August 21, 2003
Dollarization in Canada: An Update
The authors describe a special survey of the payment and financial-reporting practices of Canadian firms conducted by the Bank of Canada's regional offices to determine if the U.S. dollar has started to displace the Canadian dollar as a preferred unit of account. A cross-section of firms was asked what currency (or currencies) they used: (i) for quoting sales to Canadian customers, (ii) for quoting prices to foreigners, (iii) for reporting their financial results, and (iv) for quoting salaries and wages. The survey results reported here extend some earlier results reported in a previous Review article by Murray and Powell. The data indicate that, despite the dominance of the U.S. dollar in world trade and as an international standard of value, use of the U.S. dollar in Canada is very limited. The vast majority of Canadian firms price their products and keep their financial statements in Canadian dollars, and very few workers in Canada have their salaries paid in a foreign currency. The Canadian dollar is still strongly preferred for most pricing and financial-reporting activities in Canada, and there is very little evidence of "dollarization." -
August 7, 2003
Economic Integration in North America
For more than 70 years now, the Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs has been bringing Canadians together with the purpose of asking some thought-provoking questions and encouraging lively, stimulating debates and action on a variety of key public policy issues. -
Forecasting and Analyzing World Commodity Prices
The authors develop simple econometric models to analyze and forecast two components of the Bank of Canada commodity price index: the Bank of Canada non-energy (BCNE) commodity prices and the West Texas Intermediate crude oil price. They present different methodologies to identify transitory and permanent components of movements in these prices.