Good afternoon. It’s a pleasure to be here in Québec to speak to you about monetary policy and the economy. As we approach the three-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, we are also entering a new phase in monetary policy. In 2022, we faced an overheated economy and high inflation, and we responded forcefully, increasing our policy interest rate rapidly. The year ahead will be different. In January, after eight consecutive interest rate increases, we said that we expect to hold the policy rate at its current level, conditional on the outlook for inflation. We are pausing to assess how well our interest rate i ... (full story)