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Views from Canadian firms on past, current and future business conditions provide timely input into the Bank’s monetary policy decision-making process.

The Annual Report outlines the Bank’s activities and achievements in 2020. It includes the financial statements and a message from Governor Tiff Macklem.

The pandemic had a major impact on the Bank’s funds management activities in 2020. One of the Bank’s top priorities was supporting the extraordinary market operations implemented to address the COVID-19 crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic made 2020 a very challenging year for managing enterprise risk. The Bank faced significant and prolonged uncertainty amid exceptional circumstances.

To remain a leader in a highly complex digital world, the Bank is undertaking a digital transformation. As a data-driven institution, the Bank understands the importance of providing its staff with the latest technology and data.

The year 2020 was like no other. It began with the unemployment rate in Canada near an all-time low, inflation very close to its 2 percent target and the Bank of Canada’s policy interest rate at 1¾ percent. Canada’s economy was healthy. A year later, we are far from home.

As COVID-19 spread around the world, governments and central banks took unprecedented fiscal, monetary and financial stability actions to support economic activity and maintain global financial stability.

A higher-than-usual demand for cash put pressure on bank note inventories and the Bank’s operations centres. Navigating these pressures required agility and innovation.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Bank designed and launched a suite of liquidity facilities and asset purchase programs. These tools were integral in restoring market functioning and in keeping credit flowing to the economy.