Poloz speech: Consumer confidence may have bottomed sometime in December

Bank of Canada (BoC) Governor Stephen S. Poloz and Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn A. Wilkins are now delivering their remarks on the monetary policy outlook following the BoC's decision to leave the policy unchanged at 1.75% in January. 

Key quotes

"Estimate of the output gap is based on a partially updated estimate of the economy's potential, therefore there may be more uncertainty than usual over the current estimate."

"Excess capacity is not uniformly distributed, but is concentrated on prairies and Newfoundland."

"Slowdown in late 2019 may reflect greater pass-through from international developments than was previously expected, in which case recent pick-up in global indicators is reassuring."

"Weekly survey data suggest consumer confidence may have bottomed sometime in December."

About Stephen Poloz (via bankofcanada.ca)

"Stephen S. Poloz was appointed Governor of the Bank of Canada, effective 3 June 2013, for a term of seven years. As Governor, he is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank and a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). He currently chairs both the BIS Audit Committee and the Consultative Council for the Americas."