Monetary policy implementation

• November 23, 2003

  An Evaluation of Fixed Announcement Dates

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 2003 Nicolas Parent, Phoebe Munro, Ron Parker

  When it launched a new system for regularly announcing its decisions regarding the overnight rate of interest in December 2000, the Bank of Canada had a number of key objectives in mind. These included reduced uncertainty in financial markets, greater focus on the Canadian rather than the U.S. economic environment, more emphasis on the medium-term perspective of monetary policy, and increased transparency regarding the Bank's interest rate decisions. Evidence to date suggests that all four objectives have been met to a substantial degree. Fixed announcement dates have provided regular opportunities for the Bank to communicate its views on the state of the Canadian economy to the public. This has helped to improve understanding of the broad direction of monetary policy and of the rationale behind the Bank's policy decisions although the decisions themselves are not always fully anticipated.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Credibility, Financial markets, Interest rates, Monetary policy and uncertainty, Monetary policy implementation

• A Simple Test of Simple Rules: Can They Improve How Monetary Policy is Implemented with Inflation Targets?

  Staff Working Paper 2003-31 Nicholas Rowe, David Tulk

  The authors evaluate whether an assortment of simple rules could improve how the Bank of Canada implements its inflation-targeting monetary policy. They focus on measuring the correlation between the deviations of inflation from the target and the lagged deviations of rule recommendations from the actual policy interest rate.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E5

• How to Improve Inflation Targeting at the Bank of Canada

  Staff Working Paper 2002-23 Nicholas Rowe

  This paper shows that if the Bank of Canada is optimally adjusting its monetary policy instrument in response to inflation indicators to target 2 per cent inflation at a two-year horizon, then deviations of inflation from 2 per cent represent the Bank's forecast errors, and should be uncorrelated with its information set, which includes two-year lagged values of the instrument and the indicators. Positive or negative correlations are evidence of systematic errors in monetary policy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Inflation targets, Monetary and financial indicators, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E5
• August 20, 2002

  Information and Analysis for Monetary Policy: Coming to a Decision

  Bank of Canada Review - Summer 2002 Tiff Macklem

  This article outlines one of the Bank's key approaches to dealing with the uncertainty that surrounds decisions on monetary policy: the consideration of a wide range of information from a variety of sources. More specifically, it describes the information and analysis that the monetary policy decision-makers—the Governing Council of the Bank of Canada—receive in the two or three weeks leading up to a decision on the setting of the policy rate—the target overnight interest rate. The article also describes how the Governing Council reaches this decision.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary and financial indicators, Monetary policy framework, Monetary policy implementation

• Why Do Central Banks Smooth Interest Rates?

  Staff Working Paper 2001-17 Gabriel Srour

  It is commonly observed that central banks respond gradually to economic shocks, moving the interest rate in small discrete steps in the same direction over an extended period of time. This paper examines the empirical evidence regarding central banks' smoothing of interest rates, paying particular attention to the case of Canada.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E5

• Reactions of Canadian Interest Rates to Macroeconomic Announcements: Implications for Monetary Policy Transparency

  Staff Working Paper 2001-5 Toni Gravelle, Richhild Moessner

  In this study we statistically quantify the reactions of Canadian and U.S. interest rates to macroeconomic announcements released in Canada and in the United States. We find that Canadian interest rates react very little to Canadian macroeconomic news and are significantly affected by U.S. macroeconomic news, which indicates that international influences on the Canadian fixed-income markets are important.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Financial markets, Interest rates, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E0, E4, E5

• On Commodity-Sensitive Currencies and Inflation Targeting

  Staff Working Paper 2001-3 Kevin Clinton

  Two aspects of the recent monetary history of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand stand out: the sensitivity of their dollars to prices of resource-based commodities, and inflation targeting. This paper explores various aspects of these phenomena.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff working papers Topic(s): Exchange rates, Inflation targets, International topics, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E3, E31, E5, E52, F, F3, F31, F4, F42

• Greater Transparency in Monetary Policy: Impact on Financial Markets

  Technical Report No. 86 Philippe Muller, Mark Zelmer

  Measures have been taken by the Bank of Canada to increase the transparency of Canadian monetary policy. This paper examines whether the greater transparency has improved financial markets' understanding of the conduct of monetary policy.

  Content Type(s): Staff research, Technical reports Topic(s): Financial markets, Monetary policy implementation JEL Code(s): E, E5, E52, E58, G, G1, G14
• November 11, 1998

  A primer on the implementation of monetary policy in the LVTS environment

  Bank of Canada Review - Autumn 1998 Donna Howard

  The author summarizes the objectives and key elements of the framework that the Bank will use to implement monetary policy under the new payments system. The article includes a comparison of the key features of the pre-LVTS framework with that to be used in the LVTS environment. It also features a glossary of terms with respect to the Bank's monetary policy operations.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary policy implementation, Payment clearing and settlement systems
• December 13, 1997

  The overnight market in Canada

  Bank of Canada Review - Winter 1997-1998 Eugene Lundrigan, Sari Toll

  The overnight market is an active forum where participants with a temporary surplus or shortage of funds can lend or borrow until the next business day. The level of interest rates in the overnight market has always been closely linked to the Bank of Canada's monetary policy operations. In this article, the authors describe the evolution of the market from its roots in the 1950s, the development of the Bank's monetary policy operations in the market, and how the market operates today. They also examine the outlook for the overnight market, particularly the implications of the new Large-Value Transfer System.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review articles Topic(s): Monetary policy implementation