What is going on?

  경제면의 기사가 눈에 들어옵니다. 캐나다 중앙은행이 기준금리를 1%로 유지할 것이라는 소식입니다. 최소한 2014년 초까지는 1%의 기준금리를 유지할 가능성이 높습니다. 역사적으로 보면 캐나다의 기준금리는 평균 4.7% 수준에 있었습니다. 지금의 기준금리 1%는 사상초유의 일이라 아니할 수 없습니다. 참고로 2007년의 캐나다 기준금리는 6.75%였습니다.

 세계 각국은 경기를 활성화 시키기 위해 많은 돈을 풀었습니다. 인플레이션이 뒤따를 가능성이 높지요. 인플레이션을 잡기 위해서 당연히 금리를 올리게 될 것입니다. 궁극적으로 금리는 오를 수 밖에 없습니다.

<Bank of Canada holds interest rate at 1 per cent; No rush to raise interest rates, Carney hints>

Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney kept the central bank’s influential interest rate at 1 per cent Wednesday and let Canadians know that borrowing costs are unlikely to go up any time soon.

Carney, who has kept interest rates at historically low levels for more than two years, will be long gone from Canada before the economy is growing fast enough to warrant an increase in borrowing charges, based on the bank’s latest statement.

He is leaving his Ottawa post this summer to take over the Bank of England, and economists say the Bank of Canada’s current stance means it will not be inclined to hit consumers and business borrowers with higher interest rates until next year at the earliest.

Carney, 47, will preside over two more interest-rate decisions in Ottawa before he heads for Britain in June. Having put the central bank governor’s job in the spotlight as never before, the high-flying former investment banker and Finance Canada official is going out with a bang. on Wednesday night, he was slated to join Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird as co-host of a glitzy gathering of politicians, authors and business people at the annual Politics and the Pen gala in Ottawa.

Given the continued slack in the Canadian economy and “the muted outlook for inflation,” the current level of the bank’s influential overnight rate “will likely remain appropriate for a period of time,” Carney said after holding the rate at 1 per cent Wednesday.

The bank’s current stance reflects the weak performance of the economy in the last months of 2012. Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP), which measures total output of goods and services, grew by a meagre 0.6 per cent on an annual basis in the final three months of last year. For 2012 as a whole, Canada’s economy recorded growth of 1.8 per cent, down from 2.6 per cent in 2011.

The central bank uses its key interest-rate setting to influence the level of borrowing costs at commercial banks. In doing so, the Bank of Canada tries to balance the need for low borrowing costs to stimulate the economy against the risk that too much activity by business and consumers will create unwanted inflationary pressure.

But, with the economy sputtering, economists say the bank is likely to stand pat until 2014.

“The Bank of Canada has just made it a bit more official that interest rates are almost certainly not going anywhere this year,” BMO Capital Markets economist Doug Porter commented.

“The domestic economy has been consistently disappointing in recent months,” Porter observed. “Growth has been a bit weaker than expected and inflation has been much lower than expected, and that’s really why the bank is now softening its language and suggesting there’s absolutely no urgency on raising rates.”

Still, Carney said “the bank expects growth in Canada to pick up through 2013, supported by modest growth in household spending combined with a recovery in exports and solid business investment.”

The bank predicted in January that the economy will expand by 2 per cent this year, but many economists have revised their predictions well below Carney’s forecast.

While borrowing costs are unlikely to rise soon, Carney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty have been warning that consumers were taking on too much debt at a time of unusually low borrowing costs — a trend that could lead to widespread defaults if interest charges eventually rise in keeping with stronger economic growth.

Carney said Wednesday the warnings to consumers are having an effect and “residential investment is expected to decline further from historically high levels.”

The prospect of higher interest rates in Canada tends to bolster the value of the loonie on exchange markets, so the latest Bank of Canada announcement appears to have contributed to a sharp drop in the currency. The Canadian dollar closed Wednesday at 96.95 cents (U.S.), down 0.33 of a cent from Tuesday’s close.

The next scheduled date for announcing the central bank’s overnight rate target is April 17.

(From TORONTOSTAR Published on Wed Mar 06 2013 page B1 & B4)

 

순 자산이 $30 million(U.S., 한화 330억 가량)이면 부자 중의 부자로 친다고 합니다. 부자는 더욱 부자가 되고 가난한 자는 더욱 가난해 지는 세상입니다.

<Ranks of super-rich growing>

The ranks of Canada’s super-rich are expected to grow by almost 35 per cent over the next decade, a global report by a U.K.-based property consulting firm predicts.

Defined as individuals worth at least $30 million (U.S.), the number in Canada was 4,922 last year, according to The Wealth Report by Knight Frank.

That’s expected to swell to 6,637 by 2022, the report published Wednesday says.

Toronto ranks 20th among the top 30 global cities where the super-rich live with some 1,765 residents meeting the net worth threshold last year, the report also found.

New York leads the list with 7,580 super-rich residents, followed by London and Tokyo.

Despite continuing economic turbulence since the report was launched in 2007, the ranks of the super-rich around the globe have continued to swell, the report also said.

Last year, their total number grew by 5 per cent to just under 190,000 people while their combined net worth rose 2 per cent to $26 trillion (U.S.), the report said.

Globally, their numbers are expected to rise by 50 per cent over the next decade to just over 285,000, the report also said.

Their growing clout is having an impact on the price of everything from luxury properties to fine wine and art, the study shows.

It’s also raised the spectre of potentially punitive tax measures aimed at closing the growing gap between rich and poor, particularly in countries that have been hardest hit by the financial crisis and economic downturn since 2008, the report noted.

As well, competition for safe haven locations is intensifying whether it’s a house in London’s Holland Park, a villa on Hong Kong’s The Peak, an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, or a ski chalet in France’s Courchevel, the report notes.

Even among emerging economies, the new financial elite in regions like Asia see politically stable western cities as the best place to buy property and educate their children, the report says.

The trend is driving up luxury property prices to the point where local governments are imposing restrictions in a bid to avoid potential housing bubbles, the report noted.

The study found Toronto ranks high on the list of “cities that matter” to people with money. Scoring 9th overall out of a list of 40, Toronto ranked fourth on quality of life. Vancouver and Montreal also made the top 40 list.

However, Toronto ranked just 22nd on the list of global cities that that had seen the greatest increase in luxury property prices last year, up a mere 4.3 per cent.

Amid the ongoing global economic turmoil, the global financial elite have turned to art and fine wine as relative safe haven investments, along with “passion” investments in things like sports teams, the report also found.

They display a growing interest in investing in commercial properties, and are regaining an appetite for risk, the report says.

Access to credit remains restricted, making it difficult for entrepreneurs to grow their business, the report also found.

(From TORONTOSTAR Published on Wed Mar 06 2013. Page B1 & B6)

 

캐나다에서도 청년의 실업률이 높다는 기사가 눈에 들어옵니다.

<Canadian youth, long-term jobless left behind>

 Republish While the broader Canadian labour market has recovered from the recession, younger workers and the long-term unemployed have been left behind, a report by the C.D. Howe Institute says.

Low interest rates and government stimulus spending have helped bring Canada out of recession, but they aren’t enough to address the apparent skills mismatch in the economy, the Toronto-based think tank says.

The report, called “Still Standing in Line: Addressing a Mismatch of Skills and Jobs in the Canadian Labour Market,” says governments need to address issues such as labour mobility and skills training to close the remaining gap.

The study comes as Ottawa prepares to release its annual budget, likely later this month. While it’s expected to focus on belt-tightening amid a slowing economic recovery, federal finance Minister Jim Flaherty has also signaled it may contain modest programs to encourage more job skills training.

“While unemployment rates, overall, are nearly back to normal, long-term and youth unemployment still stand at obstinately high levels despite a recent growth in job vacancies,” the report’s author, Philippe Bergevin, said. “The best way to address that is by getting rid of barriers to job mobility and emphasizing skills training.”

Canada’s labour market has recovered faster than in previous recessions. After shedding 430,000 jobs in 2008/2009, the economy now employs 900,000 more Canadians, the report notes.

However younger workers and the long-term unemployed continue to face challenges, the report says.

Younger workers, between 15 and 24 years of age, tend to suffer the brunt of any downturn, the report notes.

This time, the 15- to 19-year-old group was particularly hard hit. With an unemployment rate hovering around 20 per cent, it’s the only category yet to recoup all the jobs lost since the recession.

As well, the number of long-term unemployed – people off work at least 27 weeks -- has remained elevated, the report says.

Bergevin calls for better education and skills training programs, as well as looser entry restrictions into skilled trades.

He also calls for improved information on Canada's labour market and the removal of systemic obstacles to better match workers with jobs across provinces.

(TRONTOSRAR Published on Wed Mar 06 2013. Page B2 by Dana Flavelle)