The Bank of Canada (BOC) held its policy rate at 1.75% yesterday, caught between the rock of slow growth - falling exports, weak business investment, slowing job creation, souring loans, less confidence and lower consumption - and the hard place of precariously indebted Canadian households with little to no savings.
The BOC noted that residential investment was a strong point in 2019, even as it moderated in the fourth quarter. While residential investment (new construction, expenditures on maintenance, home improvement, equipment purchased for use in residential structures, and brokerage commissions) papered over systemic weakness in