Understanding business credit measures: a joint study by the Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada - ARCHIVED

The Bank of Canada (the Bank) and Statistics Canada both produce aggregate measures of borrowing, or credit, for sectors of the Canadian economy. The Statistics Canada measures are part of the National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA), which cover the entire economy and directly align with the internationally recognized national accounting principles detailed in the United Nations System of National Accounts. The Bank’s data are presented based on the issuer of credit, i.e., the holder of the financial assets, and do not display liabilities. Both measures are constructed primarily from records of Canadian financial institutions and provide thorough coverage of lending by those institutions. They show a similar picture of the indebtedness of Canadian non-financial businesses, currently and in the past. However, the use of differing classification systems, methodologies and definitions result in some reconcilable differences in the aggregate measures. Therefore, the Bank and Statistics Canada conducted a joint study to understand and identify key differences between their respective measures of business credit loans, including non-mortgage business loans, non-residential mortgages and commercial paper.