In the markets, as mentioned earlier, the overnight interbank rate and banking 1-month deposit rate have decreased 52bps and 151bps respectively since October 2020 to 2.80% and 3.17% in October 2021 (Graph 36). Likewise, the benchmark yield on 10-year government securities also fell 228bps from a high of 8.31% at the end of March 2020 to 6.02% on 18th November 2021.
These barriers are rightly attracting attention in Canada as differences in regional economic performance and shortages of skilled labour are becoming more pronounced, and as demographic challenges intensify. A number of initiatives to remove internal barriers have been undertaken over the years, but with mixed and generally modest results.