Tiff Macklem: Economic progress report - a very uneven recovery

Remarks (delivered virtually) by Mr Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada, to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Ottawa, Ontario, 10 September 2020.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
21 September 2020

Introduction

Thank you for the kind introduction.

I am pleased to connect with you virtually to discuss our interest rate decision yesterday and some of the challenges facing Canada during the current economic recovery.

Tomorrow marks six months since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic. Since then, this disease has taken a huge toll on lives and livelihoods. In the first half of 2020, it caused the biggest global downturn since the Great Depression.

In Canada, the economy saw the sharpest drop on record in the second quarter. Gross domestic product fell about 13 percent in the first half of the year. At the low point in April, about 3 million Canadians were out of work, and millions more were working reduced hours.

This recession has been exceptionally severe. It is also unusual in how unevenly it is affecting businesses and people.