Tuesday June 21, 2022
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 21, 2022
Freeland defends budget after Scotiabank accuses feds of ‘doing nothing’ on inflation
A cut in planned government spending could help tame rampant inflation and reduce pressure on the Bank of Canada to hike interest rates, according to a report from Scotiabank.
The report from the bank’s chief economist Jean-Francois Perrault and modelling director René Lalonde claims that Canadian fiscal policymakers are “doing nothing of any significance to slow inflation at the moment.”
The authors argue that cutting government spending will take some of the burden to cool inflation off of the Bank of Canada and the private sector.
Scotiabank’s analysis came as Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland is met with the head of the U.S. Treasury Janet Yellen in Toronto on Monday to discuss cooperation between the nations and the global inflation concerns.