MNI POLICY: BOC to Publish New Consumer Sentiment Survey

By Greg Quinn

     OTTAWA (MNI) - The Bank of Canada will publish a new consumer sentiment

survey starting on Monday to help figure out if policy makers are meeting their

mandate of keeping inflation at 2%.

     The first quarterly survey will be released at 10:30am EST alongside its

Business Outlook Survey, the BOC said in a statement Wednesday from Ottawa. It

will cover questions about inflation expectations, the job market and household

finances, and the format is similar to polling done by the New York Fed.

     Survey results about price expectations fill a gap with more general

questions in other private surveys of the consumer outlook. Governor Stephen

Poloz has touted the value of the anecdotes and information gleaned in the

business survey, and he's also said that a run-up in home prices and consumer

debt is a major risk to the domestic economy.

     The results will factor into the BOC's next rate decision on Jan. 22, where

Poloz is expected to keep the G7's highest policy lending rate at 1.75%. 

     The BOC has been collecting most of the data since 2014.

--MNI Ottawa Bureau; +1 613-314-9647; email: greg.quinn@marketnews.com

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