OTTAWA (Reuters) – After the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada will need to focus on creating sustainable growth that does not leave people behind in order to make higher levels of debt more manageable, a senior Bank of Canada official said on Thursday.
The pandemic has lowered the country’s potential growth rate, even as debt has continued to pile up, and both industry and government have roles to play in finding ways to close that gap, Carolyn Wilkins said in her last speech as Senior Deputy Governor of the central bank.
“We need to set our sights higher to help businesses create good jobs and to make high debt loads more manageable,” Wilkins said. “We need to recognize that social and economic goals are often self-reinforcing, not conflicting.”
She added that the pandemic forced Canadians to adapt quickly on many fronts and said that type of innovation could be applied to helping the economy recover from the deep crisis.
“Let’s use that impetus to propel us in a better direction-toward investments that boost sustainable and inclusive growth in the long term,” said Wilkins, who will leave the Bank on Dec. 9, ahead of the end of her term.
(Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
