For immediate release
3 August 2012
Contact: Jeremy Harrison
613 782-8782
Ottawa, Ontario - The Bank of Canada today published its 2013 schedule of key policy interest rate announcements and quarterly Monetary Policy Report (MPR) releases, and re-confirmed the scheduled announcement dates for the remainder of this year.
The scheduled announcement dates from September 2012 through December 2012 are re-confirmed as:
- Wednesday, 5 September 2012
- Tuesday, 23 October 2012
- Tuesday, 4 December 2012
All these remaining 2012 rate announcements will continue to be made at 09:00 (ET) and the October Monetary Policy Report will be published at 10:30 (ET) on Wednesday, 24, October 2012.
Starting in January 2013, the Bank of Canada will begin publishing its quarterly Monetary Policy Report concurrently with its January, April, July, and October rate announcements. The standard day for publication of all scheduled rate announcements and MPRs will be Wednesday. A press conference with the Governor and Senior Deputy Governor will continue to take place on the dates when an MPR is published.
The Bank, as always, retains the option of making unscheduled rate announcements at any time in the event of extraordinary circumstances.
Over the past several years, the Bank has streamlined its production processes for the Monetary Policy Report and gradually reduced the interval between the release of the rate decision and the publication of the MPR from two weeks to the current one day. Today's announcement is the logical conclusion of this process. Publishing the MPR at the same time as the interest rate announcement provides full and immediate context for the rate decision, which improves transparency and helps the Bank explain its monetary policy more effectively.
The scheduled announcement dates for 2013 are:
- Wednesday, January 23*
- Wednesday, March 6
- Wednesday, April 17*
- Wednesday, May 29
- Wednesday, July 17*
- Wednesday, September 4
- Wednesday, October 23*
- Wednesday, December 4
*- denotes the publication of the Monetary Policy Report.
There will be a single, consistent time of release for all scheduled rate announcements and Monetary Policy Reports. This release time will be determined and announced following consultations with market participants and other stakeholders.
Timeline of changes to the publication schedule for rate announcements and Monetary Policy Reports:
- 2000-2001: Fixed Announcement Dates begin in December 2000. Monetary Policy Reports and Updates are published about two weeks after the January, April, July and October announcements.
- 2002: MPRs and Updates are published one week after corresponding FADs.
- 2003: MPRs are published one week after April and October FADs. Updates are published two days after January and July FADs.
- 2004: MPRs and Updates are published two days after corresponding FADs.
- 2010: MPRs are published one day after corresponding FADs.
