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Quarterly Financial Report - First Quarter 2025 - For the period ended March 31, 2025

The Annual Report outlines the Bank’s activities and achievements in 2024. It includes the financial statements and a message from Governor Tiff Macklem.

This report lays out elements of the Bank’s strategy related to climate change and details how the issue will be managed holistically across the organization, following the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

Canada’s financial system is resilient. Overall, households, businesses, banks and non-bank financial intermediaries successfully weathered the pandemic, a period of elevated inflation, and sharp increases in interest rates. But the trade war currently threatens the Canadian economy and poses risks to financial stability.

This article presents the key results from the 2025 Bank of Canada Financial System Survey, conducted between February 10 and 28. The survey included a special section on scenarios that could lead to a severe repricing in financial markets in the near term.

This is an account of the deliberations of the Bank of Canada’s Governing Council leading to the  monetary policy decision on April 16, 2025.

The Market Participants Survey results are based on questionnaire responses from about 30 financial market participants.

The Canadian economy ended 2024 in a strong position. However, the trade conflict and tariffs are expected to slow growth and add to price pressures. The outlook is very uncertain because of the unpredictability of US trade policy and the magnitude of its impact on the Canadian economy.

Business conditions have deteriorated due to the trade conflict with the United States, according to results from the Business Outlook Survey and the Business Leaders’ Pulse. Sales outlooks have softened, particularly for exporters. Firms reported having sufficient capacity, and many are delaying investment and hiring decisions amid uncertainty. Firms expect that widespread tariffs would raise costs and lead to higher selling prices. In this context, expectations for inflation are higher than they were last quarter.

Overall, results of the first-quarter 2025 survey show that the escalating trade conflict with the United States is damaging consumer sentiment. Confidence in the labour market has weakened significantly, and consumers have become more pessimistic about their financial health. Although consumption plans had been improving over the past several quarters, consumers now intend to spend more cautiously given the uncertainty around the trade conflict. They expect the trade conflict to lead to a higher cost of living, and this has pushed up their inflation expectations.