Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge corrects a misstatement

Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge corrects a misstatement he made in responding to a question yesterday relating to what he heard at the G-20 meeting about U.S. growth and how it might affect Bank of Canada projections. He unintentionally attributed specific projections of the Bank of Canada to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

What Mr. Dodge intended to say was the following:

"After listening to Mr. Greenspan and the ensuing discussion, I want to emphasize that I remain comfortable with our projections [those in the Bank of Canada Monetary Policy Report of 22 October] of U.S. growth of close to 6 per cent for the third quarter—much stronger than we or anyone had earlier anticipated—and about 4 per cent for the fourth quarter of 2003. In sum, I didn't hear anything so very different that I would change our view on the U.S. economy, although perhaps at the margin there was more optimism about indications of an earlier pickup in investment in the United States than we had assumed."

Mr. Dodge apologizes for his unintentional attribution of Bank of Canada projections to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.