Collecting your views will be most helpful today because I want to talk about the impact of the virus and the related containment measures on the day-to-day behaviour of Canadian households. Specifically, I would like to examine how spending patterns for goods and services and for housing have changed. I’d also like to discuss shifts we are seeing in household borrowing behaviour and indebtedness.
These macroprudential measures always take an aggregate perspective. They cannot efficiently limit risks stemming from individuals or circumstantial events. This is where financial literacy comes into play. It is an individual skill. When taking loans or making savings and investment decisions, households have to be able to consider the whole range of life events that may affect their financial position.