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Bank of Canada Says COVID-19 Economic Recovery Likely by 2022

Xi Stirs up Nationalistic, Anti-Us Sentiment During Korean War Anniversary Speech

Chinese leader Xi Jinping delivered a lengthy, high-profile address at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War. The Chinese regime refers to it as the “War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.” Xi’s speech came after China’s state broadcaster CCTV finished airing a 20-episode documentary series on the conflict.   Major Cleveland of the 2nd Inf. Division points out Communist-led North Korean position to his machine gun crew on Nov. 20, 1950, during the Korean War. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)Xi began his speech on Oct. 23 by repeating the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda that the United States first invaded North Korea, and Chinese troops sacrificed themselves to resist U.S. aggression. In fact, the conflict ignited when Pyongyang…

Bank of Canada Says COVID-19 Economic Recovery Likely by 2022

OTTAWA—The Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate on hold Wednesday as it said the country’s economy won’t fully recover what was lost to COVID-19 until 2022, with the road to there dependent on the path of the pandemic.

In July, the Bank of Canada said it believed the country had been spared from a worst-case scenario.

The bank’s updated outlook in its monetary policy report said the rebound over the summer was stronger than expected as the country reversed about two-thirds of the decline seen in the first half of the year.

Officials estimate the economy will shrink by 5.7 percent this year, but grow by 4.2 percent next year, and 3.7 percent in 2022.

The report also says the country’s headline inflation barometer, Statistics Canada’s consumer price index, will stay below the bank’s 2 percent target through 2022.

The report forecasts annual inflation at 0.6 percent this year, 1.0 percent next year, and 1.7 percent in 2022.

Governor Tiff Macklem has said the bank will keep its key policy rate as low at it can go at 0.25 percent until the economy has recovered and inflation is back on target.

The bank held its overnight rate target at 0.25 percent, on Wednesday, but announced it intended to buy more longer-term bonds because those have a “more direct influence on the borrowing rates that are most important for households and businesses.”

The projections for growth and inflation mark a return to the bank’s usual practice of giving a longer view for the economy in its quarterly monetary policy report.

The report said the six months of experience with containment measures and support programs, as well as more information on medical developments like vaccines, has given the bank a better foundation to make a base-case forecast.

Underpinning the bank’s outlook are two major assumptions: That widespread lockdowns won’t be utilized again and that a vaccine or effective treatment will be widely available by mid-2022.

The country has recouped about two-thirds of the three million jobs lost in March and April. Emergency federal aid has replaced lost wages for millions of workers, and provided loans and wage subsidies to struggling businesses.

The recuperation from the drop earlier this year has been uneven, the report notes. The hardest hit sectors, such as restaurants, travel and accommodations, continue to lag.

Workers in those sectors, as well and youth and low-wage workers, continue to face high levels of unemployment, the report says.

All may be hit hard again by any new rounds of restrictions, the report notes. Some areas of the country have already imposed such public health restrictions in the face of rising COVID-19 case counts.

“The breadth and intensity of re-imposed containment measures, including impacts on schools and the availability of child care, could lead to setbacks,” the report says.

“Long breaks in employment have the potential for longer-term impacts on the income prospects of vulnerable groups.”

The report said government aid has played a key role in providing a financial lifeline to individuals and businesses.

Changes to employment insurance and new benefit programs will increase households’ disposable income, officials write, adding that the bank expects government aid to “provide important support to the economy throughout the recovery.

By Jordan Press

Focus News: Bank of Canada Says COVID-19 Economic Recovery Likely by 2022

China Insider: Evidence of Genocide Exposed by CCP’s Internal Documents

The Epoch Times recently obtained a document classified as “top secret” by Chinese authorities. It exposed that China’s judicial and public security systems have been committing the crime of genocide against Falun Gong practitioners for nearly 20 years. The document is a “judicial opinion” jointly issued on Nov. 30, 2000 by five departments: the Supreme Court, the Supreme Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Security, and the Ministry of Justice. It clearly stipulated that “political and legal departments at all levels must resolutely implement the important instructions of” then Party leader Jiang Zemin to crack down on Falun Gong, and listed various charges and punishments targeting different actions of Falun Gong practitioners. For instance, when Falun Gong practitioners print and distribute Falun Gong flyers, the charge…