News

The Canadian economy continues to adjust to developments in the global economy, such as stronger world demand, higher commodity prices, and the realignment of world currencies, including the Canadian dollar.

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is lowering its target for the overnight rate by one-quarter of one percentage point to 2 per cent. The operating band for the overnight rate is correspondingly lowered, and the Bank Rate is now 2 1/4 per cent.

To state the obvious, Canada is a very open economy, heavily dependent on foreign trade. What goes on in the rest of the world can have a substantial impact on our domestic economy.

The Bank of Canada today officially put into circulation Canada's new $100 bank notes. The new notes will be distributed and become available across the country over the next two weeks.

There is a great physical distance between our two countries - in terms of latitude, there are about 80 degrees of separation between Buenos Aires and Ottawa. But despite that distance, Canada and Argentina are closer, and have more in common, than you might think. We are both federations, with a certain natural tension between the national government and relatively powerful provinces.