{"id":1394,"date":"2022-06-01T18:18:26","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T18:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samansari.com\/?p=1394"},"modified":"2022-06-01T18:18:26","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T18:18:26","slug":"bank-of-canada-quarterly-financial-report-first-quarter-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samansari.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/01\/bank-of-canada-quarterly-financial-report-first-quarter-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Bank of Canada Quarterly Financial Report – First Quarter 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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ontext of the Quarterly Financial Report<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Bank of Canada is the nation\u2019s central bank. The Bank\u2019s mandate under the Bank of Canada Act<\/em><\/a> is to promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada. Its activities and operations are undertaken in support of this mandate and not with the objective of generating revenue or profit. The Bank is committed to keeping Canadians informed about its policies, activities and operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This discussion has been prepared in accordance with section 131.1 of the Financial Administration Act<\/em><\/a> and follows the guidance outlined in the Treasury Board of Canada\u2019s Directive on Accounting Standards: GC 5200 Crown Corporations Quarterly Financial Report<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bank management is responsible for the preparation of this report, which was approved by the Audit and Finance Committee of the Board of Directors on May 25, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Quarterly Financial Report should be read in conjunction with the condensed interim financial statements included in this report and with the Bank\u2019s Annual Report<\/a> for the year ended December 31, 2021. Disclosures and information in the 2021 Annual Report apply to the current quarter unless otherwise updated in this quarterly report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID\u201119: What the Bank is doing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since the beginning of the COVID\u201119 pandemic, the Bank has acted in several ways to support the Canadian economy and financial system. When key financial markets became strained in March\u00a02020, the Bank responded by introducing several programs to provide liquidity and maintain market functioning. As market functioning gradually recovered, some of these facilities and operations were either suspended, discontinued or scaled back. On April\u00a025, 2022, the Bank ended reinvestment entirely and began quantitative tightening. Refer to the Bank\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0for the relevant\u00a0press releases<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0market notices<\/a>\u00a0and more information on these measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bank\u2019s holdings of financial assets are typically related to its role as the exclusive issuer of Canadian bank notes. However, the higher levels of financial assets in recent years result largely from activities undertaken as part of the Bank\u2019s monetary policy and financial system functions. The Bank\u2019s assets peaked in the first quarter of 2021 but began to decrease as market conditions improved. The Bank continued to operate in the reinvestment phase of its quantitative easing assets purchase program during the first quarter of 2022. Its total assets decreased by 3% during that time to $486,872 million as at March 31, 2022. The main driver of the decline was the maturity of loans and receivables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loans and receivables<\/em> is composed primarily of securities purchased under resale agreements (SPRAs). SPRAs are high-quality assets acquired through the repo market, in line with the Bank\u2019s framework for market operations and liquidity provision<\/a>. The Bank substantially increased the scale of SPRAs in response to the pandemic to support the functioning of financial markets in 2020. As market conditions improved, SPRAs decreased by 34% to $15,558 million as at March 31, 2022 compared with December 31, 2021, as a result of the suspension of the program and natural maturing of the operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investments<\/em> decreased by 4% to $449,173 million as at March 31, 2022. This decrease was driven mainly by the following movements within the Bank\u2019s holdings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n