The Financial Post reports in its Saturday, April 26, edition that the Bank of Canada decided to maintain its current stance at its latest meeting, a choice it may later regret. The Post's guest columnist David Rosenberg writes that the BOC outlined two scenarios: an optimistic hope for U.S. President Donald Trump to ease the trade war, and a more troubling possibility of a deep recession if current tariffs remain. While policy-makers did not quantify the likelihood of these scenarios, the BOC should have acted as a risk manager and taken precautionary measures against the potential recession. Based on the ominous second scenario, it acknowledged that:
"The output gap reaches about minus 1.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 and then narrows somewhat over the rest of the scenario horizon. Excess supply in the economy exerts downward pressure on inflation over the entire scenario horizon. This pressure is most apparent in prices in the services sector, which are not directly boosted by tariffs." The BOC must acknowledge the economic war we are in and protect against fat-tailed risks. If scenario No. 2 occurs, the policy rate may need to drop below 2 per cent or more.
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