Bank of Canada to set rate moves, quarterly reports on same day

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Starting in 2013, the Bank of Canada will publish its quarterly Monetary Policy Report (MPR) on the same day as its interest rate decisions, not the day afterwards as at present, the central bank announced on Friday.

It reconfirmed the schedule for the remainder of 2012, with the October MPR to be released on October 24, a day after the October 23 rate decision. And it noted that it retained, as always, the option of making unscheduled rate announcements at any time in the event of extraordinary circumstances.

One logistical question will be the time that decisions and reports are released. Currently, it issues the rate decisions at 9 a.m. Eastern time, and the MPRs at 10:30 a.m. The bank said that from 2013 on, it would have one single, consistent release time for all scheduled announcements and MPRs, to be determined after consultations.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Peter Galloway)