The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) today released a report that summarizes the federal package of COVID-19 liquidity support programs provided through five federal Crown corporations: The Bank of Canada, Farm Credit Canada, Export Development Canada, Business Development Bank of Canada, and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The report Crown corporations’ COVID-19 liquidity support estimates that up to $422 billion in financial liquidity supports for businesses, governments and financial markets has been provided by these five Crown corporations through August 2020. While these Crown corporations entered the pandemic in a good financial position, the programs significantly increase the federal government’s financial footprint.
The report also highlights gaps in publicly available risk metrics for these programs.
“The federal government is the sole shareholder of these Crown corporations and is directly affected by gains or losses in these programs. Except for the Bank of Canada, we have seen limited disclosure to parliamentarians and Canadians on the billions in potential financial exposure from these programs,” says Yves Giroux, PBO. “Parliamentarians and Canadians need better information to facilitate the financial scrutiny of all major entities of the Government of Canada.”