HIGHLIGHTS-Bank of Canada's Macklem and Wilkins speak after rate decision
TORONTO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Below are some key quotes from a news conference by Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem and Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Wilkins on Wednesday after the central bank held interest rates steady.
MACKLEM ON QE RECALIBRATION
"This adjustment is about maximizing the effectiveness of the program. As I indicated, with our forward guidance yields at the short end of the curve are very well anchored. We don't need to buy the short end and so we can get out of the way of the market at the short end and shift to buying more longer maturities and in doing so increase the monetary policy stimulus from quantitative easing per dollar purchased."
MACKLEM ON SCOPE TO DO MORE QE
"Our balance sheet, it has grown rapidly but it remains much smaller than a number of other leading central banks relative to the size of our economy. So there is scope to do more and if we need to do more we will do more."
WILKINS ON FORWARD GUIDANCE
"The discussion about forward guidance was quite robust within governing council. It took a while because we were really concerned about, or focused on, what are we trying to achieve with this. And we all agreed at a time of uncertainty for Canadians that it was really important to be as clear as possible about how we saw the outlook and what that might mean, given the outlook for borrowing costs that are very important for Canadian households and businesses." (Reporting by Fergal Smith Compiled by Denny Thomas)