Bank of Canada Needs Strong Communicator, Morneau Says

(Bloomberg) -- Whoever replaces Stephen Poloz as Bank of Canada Governor will need to continue to invoke confidence in markets, Canadian finance minister Bill Morneau said.

“We continue to need someone with deep expertise in monetary policy, someone who is able to get the confidence of all of the market participants, an effective communicator, and I’m confident that we have some very, very talented people that are potential next governors,” Morneau said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Davos, Switzerland. “I’m looking forward to that choice in the not-too-distant future.”

He said not to expect any announcement in the coming weeks, but that the decision will be made in advance of June, when Poloz is set to leave. The Bank of Canada has a relatively high policy rate among major economies, but the downturn in domestic data since the end of last year has prompted concern among officials.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jill Ward in London at jward98@bloomberg.net;Francine Lacqua in London at flacqua@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Lucy Meakin, David Goodman

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.