Toronto, Ontario — In this Tuesday Ticker, the Bank of Canada plans to let inflation run on past its previously planned targets, the European Union says it will wave goodbye to gas-powered vehicles in 2035 and top execs at Toyota say it’s “too soon” to be focussing only on electric cars.
Get to runnin’
The Bank of Canada plans to let inflation run faster than its two percent target through 2023, according to new forecasts published July 14
The forecasts predict the nation could be on the verge of an impressive burst of economic growth, offsetting the disappointing start to 2021.
“As the economy reopens after the third wave of COVID-19, growth should rebound strongly,” wrote the Bank of Canada alongside the release. “The Bank is forecasting growth of about six percent this year, slowing to about four-and-a-half percent in 2022 and three-and-a-quarter percent in 2023.”
BMO’s July 14 projections weren’t strong enough to alter Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem’s plan to keep the benchmark interest rate pinned near zero until the second half of next year, but evidence prompted policymakers to pare their weekly purchases of Government of Canada bonds to $2 billion, from $3 billion previously.
“This adjustment reflects continued progress towards recovery and the bank’s increased confidence in the strength of the Canadian economic outlook,” Macklem and his deputies on the Governing Council said in a statement.
The decision to ease off the bond-buying program was anticipated by observers of the Bank, as was an upward revision to growth projections for the second half of the year and 2022.
Arrivederci, auf wiedersehen, adios, adjö…
The European Union is the latest to update its rules around the sale of gas-powered vehicles; the commission plans to end sales of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035, according to a report from CNN.
The European Commission said last Wednesday that it plans for the auto industry to cut the average emissions of new cars by 55 percent, by 2030, followed by 100 percent of average emissions slashed five years after that deadline.
“The fossil fuel economy has reached its limits,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We want to leave the next generation a healthy planet, and good jobs and growth that does not hurt our nature.”
You’re never too late—but you can be too early
In a kindred vein—but a not-so-similar mindset—to Europe, Toyota recently released a statement saying the OEM believes it’s too early to only be focusing on electric vehicles.
The automaker said, over the next 30 years, it will contain a myriad of options beyond just EVs, including more hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles.
“It’s too early to concentrate on one option,” said Shigeki Terashi, an executive with Toyota, when responding o an investor’s question as to why the brand chose to take a different electrification route from other brands—like Honda, which targets all-EV sales by 2040.
